15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
In verse 15, Paul asks the same question as in verse 1, but now he asks based on what he has just written in verses 2-14.
If we feel sin can be committed without risk because of grace, we turn grace into lasciviousness.
present (yield) — as in verse 13, to put a thing at the disposal of another
obey — should be obedience, not a verb. The first usage of obedience is an effect, not personified. The second usage is personified as the alternative master. Any decision to sin or acquiescence to sin makes sin our master. Matthew 6:24 — No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
death (here) = not eternal death but death of the Christian’s experience.
Romans 8:6 — For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Galatians 6:8 — For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
We should observe the two lines of truth which run throughout the chapter with regard to the believer’s deliverance from sin:
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6:7 — … he that is dead is freed from sin.
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6:18 — Being then made free from sin …
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6:22 — being made free from sin …
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6:14 — For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace.
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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 to you.
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6:20 — … ye were the servants of sin …
From these passages it is evident that in God’s sight, positionally, the believer has been delivered from the bondage of sin.
However, this same chapter also establishes the fact that experientially the believer may submit himself to the slavery of sin:
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6:12 — Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body …
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6:13 — Neither yield ye your members … unto sin …
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6:16 — … to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey …
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6:19 — I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh …
To the “carnal” Corinthian believers Paul listed “fornicators … adulterers … thieves … drunkards” and the like, as those who would be shut out from “the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10), and he could have said, “and such are some of you,” for some of these failing Christians had indulged in the grossest immorality. But he did not say this. He said rather, And such were some of you, and added: … but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.
Thus the Scriptures, and especially the Pauline epistles, make a sharp distinction between the believer’s standing and his state, between his position and his condition. — Stam, pg. 151-152
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Righteousness = here not used for justification but right conduct. In this section of the epistle to the Romans, three verbs center on the will and choice of the believer, they are the plan of battle drawn up by the Lord for our Christian living. We are to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God (6:11), to forbid the reign of sin in our mortal bodies (6:12), to yield in obedience to righteousness (6:16). Each action involves acceptance by faith of a divine principle: we believe that we are united to Christ; we act by faith on the work that was done; we yield in obedience to righteousness. — Barnhouse, pg. 151.
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Paul has shown how horrible is the idea of continuing in sin in order to bring forth abounding grace. Now Paul evinces the same horror at the idea of sinning because grace does abound. The difference is that of position and conduct. Shall we continue in sin? (6:1); shall we continue to sin? (6:15). He is leading us to practical holiness under grace. — Stam, pg. 153
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
The first part of the verse is a promise.
law — a principle, not specifically the Jewish Law. 1 Corinthians 15:56 — The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
Because we are alive unto God (verse 13), sin shall not have dominion as it did under law.
The law says you are a sinner and must die. Grace says Christ died for your sins.
William R. Newell in Romans Verse by Verse wrote the following on the nature of grace. This may serve to set forth the glorious truth of our freedom from law and yieldedness to the Holy Spirit who produces holiness under grace.
1) Grace is God acting freely according to His own nature as Love; with no promises or obligations to fulfill; and acting of course, righteously — in view of the cross.
2) Grace, therefore, is uncaused in the recipient; its cause lies wholly in the Giver, in God.
3) Grace also is sovereign. Not having debts to pay, or fulfilled conditions on man’s part to wait for, it can act toward whom and how, it pleases. It can, and does, often, place the worst deserving in the highest favors.” — Barnhouse, pg. 143
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Up until now, Romans 6 spoke of the heart; now the emphasis shifts to the will.
mortal (v.12) = liable to death, but also with the sense that the body is the organ in and through which sin works.
lusts (v.12) — any desires inconsistent with the will of God.
present (1st usage) = yield, voluntarily put at the disposal of. It’s in the continuous tense — something you do day after day. Yielding is living objectively, accentuating the positive. This isn’t a feeling, but an occupation with spiritual things. Do spiritual things to keep yourself out of mischief. Galatians 5:16 — I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
instruments (v.13) = weapons
present (2nd usage) — tense indicates a deliberate act (once for all) with lasting results.
God never asks anything of the unbeliever but absolute acknowledgment of his complete ruin in sin, and of God’s perfect remedy in Christ. But when we have unconditionally surrendered to the doctrine of ruin and redemption, the Lord calls us away from the old patterns of life, establishes us in a new framework of righteousness, and enables us to live as befits our new position. — Barnhouse, pg. 124
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 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
once (v.10) = once for all, completely as opposed to once upon a time. It emphasizes the absolute sufficiency and finality of the death of Christ for all the purposes for which He died.
lives to God (v.10) — He has nothing more to do with sin
reckon (v.11) — know something to be true and live accordingly. It carries the idea of a mathematical calculation
dead (v.11) = dead indeed, permanent state — our spiritual condition and our attitude toward sin
Thus the redemptive work of Christ in the sinner’s behalf stands between the believer and his sins (1 Corinthians 15:3; Ephesians 1:7), between the believer and his sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), and between the believer and his sinning (Romans 6:1-14). — Stam, pg. 148.
God provides a way for us to escape sin. 1 Corinthians 10:13 — No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Romans 6:11 speaks of this escape — look to Christ and reckon yourself free.
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
body of sin (v.6) = power acting through the members of the body
done away with (v.6) — should be “rendered inactive” — because of our death with Christ, our bodies have been rendered inactive as instruments of sin. The source of sin is the will, but it uses the body as its instrument.
be slaves of (v.6) = bondage, slavery with no choice of kind or length of service
freed (v.7) = justified in the legal sense
There is no legitimate method of terminating sin’s claims except by death. Death both snaps all bonds and annuls all obligations. The statement of this verse [verse 7] covers the whole of the preceding argument and does not apply merely to the figure of bondage just mentioned. The special reference is to the subject of crucifixion, the death penalty which Christ endured. Our identification with Christ, as the One who endured the penalty for us, removes the legal sentence from us and thereby delivers us from a condition of bondage to sin. There is both the removal of the penalty and the deliverance from the power. A corpse can neither be punished nor can it become subservient to the will of another. — Vine, pg. 90
If (v.8) — inevitable result. Once we are saved, we live with Christ regardless of our own effort.
dominion(v.9) = power of a lord
Sanctification is not primarily a matter of striving to live holy, but of knowing that we are holy in Christ.
Paul’s way is always: doctrine first, then the application. We find this even within sections of his epistles [as in these four verses]. In the larger context it is the same. The “old man” has been crucified and buried with Christ; now accept this by faith and bury that “dead body” — experientially. We have this idea again in Colossians 3:9-10 and Ephesians 4:22, 24. The former passage states, “ye have put off the old man … and have put on the new man … ” while the latter exhorts, “… put off … the old man … and … put on the new man … ” The former refers to a positional fact, the latter to the practical application of that fact. — Stam, pg. 146-147)
Don’t bemoan your sinful state, rejoice in your glorious standing in Christ. This is faith, not works. We quit serving sin — we reckon it dead — victory lies not in struggling but in appreciation of the fact. The battle has already been won in Christ.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
united together — literally “planted together,” but the sense is of being united together.
Unfortunately, the idea now associated with the verb “to plant” is far afield from the original Greek. Sumphutoi is an old verbal adjective which comes from an older Greek verb meaning “to grow together.” The most accurate rendering of this text that I have found in a modern language is that of Louis Segond, the Swiss theologian, in his French translation: “For if we have become the same plant in the likeness of His death, we shall also be the same plant in the likeness of His resurrection.” In seeking for the meaning of this passage, we are not to think of burying a seed in the ground or of grafting one plant into another. — Barnhouse, pg. 85
shall be — not merely future (although that is included) but an inevitable consequence now and in the future — our resurrection together with Christ results from dying together with Him.
resurrection — again, not our future resurrection but out present resurrected life in Christ.
We were planted together with Christ, having died the same death — His death — and therefore also sharing in the same resurrection — Stam, pg. 146
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
death, here, is Christ’s death, not ours
glory = excellence of God’s power manifested in the resurrection of Christ
newness = new in quality
When Christ died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried. When He was resurrected, we were resurrected. By faith we are united with Him. We are also glorified with Him — Ephesians 2:5-6 — Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Paul is still answering the question from Romans 6:1.
This verse doesn’t refer to our future resurrection (although that is assured) but to our present resurrected life in Christ.
We are accepted that we may be possessed, and possessed after the manner not of a mechanical “article,” but of an organic limb. We have received the reconciliation that we may now walk, not away from God, as if released from a prison, but with God, as His children in His Son. Because we are justified, we are to be holy, separated from sin, separated to God; not as a mere indication that our faith is real and that therefore we are legally safe, but because we were justified for this very purpose, that we might be holy. The grapes upon a vine are not merely a living token that the tree is a vine, and is alive; they are the product for which the vine exists. It is a thing not to be thought of that the sinner should accept justification — and live to himself. It is a moral contradiction of the very deepest kind, and cannot be entertained without betraying an initial error in the man’s whole spiritual creed. (quote from Bishop Moule in Barnhouse, pg. 61).
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The ground of our justification lies in the fact that the Savior took not only our sins, but our sin upon the cross. God never deals with sins until He has dealt with sin. Barnhouse, page 61
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Paul’s first “know ye not?” — implies they should have known.
Baptized = put into and taken out again, used of dyeing clothes. This involves immersion (death), submersion (burial), and emergence (resurrection).
This baptism is not water baptism but the baptism of the Holy Spirit by faith. 1 Corinthians 12:13 — For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
And Galatians 3:26-27 — For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Through baptism, we vicariously share in Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. The believer is identified with Jesus Christ and legally regarded as having died to sin.
Jesus Christ, by grace, became one with us in our death, so we, by faith, become one with Him in His death — crucified with Him.
Romans 6:6 — Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
And Galatians 2:20 — I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
The stress in this verse is on we.
Dead to sin — dead to its guilt.
How can we continue in sin if we’re dead to sin?
Sin (in this verse) = continuing in a course of sin (as opposed to committing individual sins, which we all still do).
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Continue = abide — so, shall we sin to obtain grace?
Paul is countering Antinomianism — a school of thought that says grace leads to sin because we aren’t condemned for our sins, that the moral law is of no use and we are under no obligation to it.
Chapter 5 shows how God gives life. Chapter 6 shows how I should live that life — unto God.
