Romans Chapter 6

Romans Lesson 6

Romans Chapter 6

Distributed by: KJV Bible Studies

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Memory verses for this week: Psa 118:29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Introduction: Last week, in chapter 5, Paul in very clear language showed how we are justified to God by what Christ has done for us. Because of what Jesus did on Calvary, we work for God. Not for our salvation, but because we love God for what He has done for us.

I. Believers Are Dead to Sin

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

Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

When the soul of man is made alive, when the sinner is born again, our soul is now dead to sin. Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary perfected our salvation, and our spiritual man lives to serve the Lord. Paul begins by asking “What shall we say then? This is in reference to Romans 5:20 where he penned “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Because of this, we should strive daily to rise above the sin that so easily besets us.

God’s desire is not for us to continue in sin that grace might abound more, but His desire is for us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior and live a life that glorifies God. Verse 2 points out that if we are saved and freed from sin, there is no way that we will continue to live in sin day after day. The moment that we are saved, a person becomes dead to sin. The Holy Spirit comes and dwells in the believer, and our even our physical desires become tuned towards honoring the Father. It was by the cross of Christ that Paul became crucified unto the world.

Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

Eph 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;

Eph 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

Eph 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

I loved what J. Vernon McGee said in his commentary about verse 2.

The very fact that Paul is asking this question makes it obvious that he understood justification to mean a declaration of righteousness; that it did not mean to make a person good, but to declare a person good. Justification means that the guilt or the penalty of sin is removed, not the power of sin in this life.

Now he is going to talk about removing the power of sin. If God has declared you to be righteous and has removed the guilt of your sin, then, my friend, you cannot continue in sin. The answer is, “God forbid!”

“How shall we, that are dead to sin”—this is something that is misunderstood. We are never dead to sin as long as we are in this life. The literal translation is, “How shall we who have died to sin.” Note this distinction. That means we died in the person of our substitute, Jesus Christ. We died to sin in Christ. But we are never dead to sin. Any honest person knows he never reaches the place where he is dead to sin. He does reach the place where he wants to live for God, but he recognizes he still has that old sin nature.

It is verses like that that have led a group of sincere folk, whom I call super-duper saints—I hope I’m not being unfair to them—to feel they have reached an exalted plane where they do not commit sin. One such group is a branch of those who teach the “victorious life.” They feel they have reached the pinnacle of perfection. There are different brands of these, I know, but one group was especially obnoxious several years ago in Southern California. One young man approached me following a morning worship service, and he asked, “Are you living the victorious life?” I think I shocked him when I said, “No, I’m not!” Then I asked him, “Are you?” Well, he beat around the bush and didn’t want to give me a direct answer. He said he tried to. And I said, “Wait a minute, that’s not the question.

You asked me if I am living it, and I said no. Now you answer me yes or no.” And to this good day he hasn’t answered me. Like most of them, he was a very anemic-looking fellow; I suspected he was a fugitive from a blood bank. He continued arguing his case. “Well, doesn’t the Scripture say, ‘I am crucified with Christ?’ and doesn’t it say that we are dead to sin?” I said, “No, that is not what the Scriptures say. We died to sin in Christ—that’s our position—but we are never dead to sin in this life. You have a sinful nature; I have a sinful nature; and we’ll have it as long as we are in this life.”

II. Buried with Christ in Baptism

Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

When we accept Christ as our Personal Savior and submit to baptism, we have been baptized into His death. Baptism is one of two ordinances of the church, and it is the picture or symbol of the old man dying as we are laid back, and the new man rising up to walk in newness of life. It symbolizes that we are so united with Christ as to be followers of Him in His death by dying to sin as Jesus did.

Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

As we just stated, Baptism is a symbol of the old man being put to death. All who have received Christ are dead to sin.

Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Gal 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Col 2:20 Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,

Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Baptism is one of the things that many are confused about in the Christian world today. It is not complicated nor hard to understand. When a person is baptized, he or she confesses that they have died to sin but are alive unto Christ. Baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is not the picture that saves the soul, but the one the one who the picture speaks of, namely Jesus Christ.

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

1 Cor 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

1 Cor 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

1 Cor 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

1 Cor 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Verse 5 shows how that we are planted together in the likeness of Christ’s death. This symbolizes how Christ died for our sin, how we have died to sin. And Jesus was buried in the tomb, where we are buried in baptism. He arose after three days and three nights in the tomb, and when we come up out of the baptismal waters, it shows we are raised in his resurrection.

III. A Changed Nature

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

The old man refers to the old Adamic, sinful nature that we have inherited. That old man was crucified the day you received Jesus as your Savior. On that day, you become a new creature.

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

When the old man becomes dead (the moment of salvation), we have been delivered from sin. That does not mean we will not continue to face temptations and trials, but because of Christ, the sin is not imputed against us.

Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Rom 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

Verse 8 gives the believer great assurance of the resurrection. If Christ was raised from the grave, and he was, then we can trust that if we have turned to Jesus for our salvation, one day He will raise us up. This may be on the day of our death, or if we are living at Christ’s return, we will be resurrected and taken into the clouds at the sound of the trumpet. We have a living Savior.

Heb 7:23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:

Heb 7:24 But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.

Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Rev 1:18 I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Rom 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Believers are dead in reference to sin. We should put it away from us and have no more to do with it. We are children of the King, and we should live a life that lets others see what we have living within us.

W. A. Criswell said this about verse 11 and our being alive unto God.

In Rom. 6:1–13, three essential elements of the sanctification process are given: (1) know what salvation means (v. 3); (2) reckon or consider yourself to be dead to sin (present imperative); and (3) present yourself and the parts of your body to God as instruments of righteousness (present imperative, v. 13). We are called to live experientially what we are positionally. That sanctification requires our active involvement is clearly evident.

IV. Sin Should not Reign over Believers

Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

In the Crossway Classic Commentaries, Charles Hodge had this to say concerning the control over the old nature.

“We should not obey sin by yielding to bodily appetites. A man must always serve. There is not middle ground between the service of sin and the service of God. We have justification completely, or we do not have it at all. Sanctification, which springs from a living faith, and which is the fruit of God’s love to us, does have different levels, and may be more or less earnestly cultivated. But sanctification does not decide our salvation, only the measure of future blessedness. No wisdom or caution can guard this doctrine from misunderstanding, whether such misunderstanding arise unintentionally from the misunderstanding or insincerity of heart….. We strive to obey, not in order to be saved or to please God, but because God saves us without works or merit of our own. Because he is reconciled in the Beloved, we delight to serve.”

In summary, believers are servants of Jesus Christ and should never let sin reign in the lives. A servant is supposed to obey his master, and we are servants to Christ. Because of this, we should submit all of our members unto the service of the Lord.

V. The Believer is Under Grace

Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

It is crucial that the child of God realize that while we are under grace, that does not give us the right to sin. To walk before God with a pure conscience means bringing the body under subjection each day. The cross always speaks of death, and we are told to bear our cross each day. That means to put the old sin nature behind us, and to walk in the spirit. Whoever we yield our selves to, to that one we will serve. Satan wants us to serve our flesh, God desires us to walk after the new, spiritual man.

Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Do we want to be people who are servants of God? If so, we must obey Him and follow the commandments and turn away from the things that drag us down. We can be saved and out of fellowship with God and serve the creature more than the Creator. But one thing is for sure. And person who has not accepted Christ is a servant of Satan. They are servants of sin, and Satan is their father.

John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

John 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

John 8:45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

John 8:46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

John 8:47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

If you have never accepted Christ as your personal savior, you don’t have to wait until you die to find out if you are condemned. The bible teaches that if we don’t know Christ, we are condemned already.

John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

When we are saved, we are made free from sin. What a blessing from God. After we are set free from sin, we become a servant of righteousness. Think how effective we would be if we were as dedicated to God after salvation as we were to sin before we were cleansed and made whole. If were that dedicated, more souls would hear about Jesus, both here around us and in the mission fields around the world.

Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

When we were the servants of sin, our fruits were of no value. What we brought forth brought shame. But things change when we turn to Christ and accept Him as Savior.

Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

After we are saved and freed from sin, our fruits become good and honor God. God gives us the fruit of holiness and everlasting life. Death is the wage of sin, but note that the gift from God, the free gift, is eternal life. What a Savior we have in Jesus Christ.

J. Vernon McGee had this to say about verses 22 and 23.

”The Devil is the paymaster, and he will see to it that you get paid. If you work for him, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life. And you will receive that gift by faith. You are saved by faith. You are to live by faith. You are to walk moment by moment by faith. You cannot live for God by yourself any more than you can save yourself. It requires constant dependence upon Him, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit.”

Rom 14:21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

Rom 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

Rom 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

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Prov 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

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Practice Random Acts of Kindness. Each act spreads, and many will be blessed.

J. Vernon McGee, Thru the Bible commentary [computer file], electronic ed., Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1981 by J. Vernon McGee.

W.A. Criswell, Believer’s study Bible [computer file], electronic ed. , Logos Library System, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1991 by the Criswell Center for Biblical Studies.