Dead To Sin

INTRO

While Paul had already visited most of the churches to whom he wrote, Paul had yet to visit the church in Rome, when he wrote his letter to them. Paul used a lot of rhetorical questions as he wrote Romans, probably as a teaching method to keep the Romans engaged. Chapter 6 begins with one of these rhetorical questions, which sets up the main point of the chapter: Christians are dead to sin. This point follows the case which Paul makes in chapter 5 that Jesus dealt with our sin and justified us from our sin.

Warren Wiersbe notes three themes around which Paul organizes his argument in Romans 6:

• Know (6:1-10)
• Reckon (6:11)
• Yield (6:12–23)¹

TEACHING

Romans 6:11: This is the theme verse of chapter 6. Paul bluntly states that Christians are dead to sin. As a result, we have become alive to God.

Romans 6:1: The opening rhetorical question, “What shall we say then?” functions like the word “therefore.” Paul built on his argument from the conclusion of chapter 5, “The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 5:20-21). Some in the early church thought that since sin resulted in more grace that there was no reason to try to avoid sin. More sin would mean more grace and grace was a good thing.

Romans 6:2-5: Paul emphatically points out that Christ has made us dead to sin. As a result, Christians should no longer desire to live in sin. Paul begins verse 3 with the phrase, “Or are you unaware.” This implies the Romans knew the truth that they were dead to sin conceptually but had failed to come to a full understanding. Freedom from sin came with the Romans’ relationship with Jesus. The same glory of God that raised Jesus from the dead enabled them to walk in a new way of life because of their faith in Jesus. The word “glory” which Paul uses here is the same word John uses in John 11 when Jesus speaks with Martha after Lazarus’s death, “Jesus said to her, ‘Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’” (John 11:40) In the same way Martha saw God’s glory when her brother was raised from the dead, God’s glory was on display when the Romans were freed from the power of their sin through Jesus’ atoning death on the cross. Just as their death to sin resembled Jesus’ physical death on the cross, they were enabled to live a new kind of life because of Jesus’ physical resurrection from the dead. Jesus said, “A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:10). The Romans’ death to sin was meant to lead them to the abundant life that Jesus promised.

Romans 6:6-7: The power of sin over the Romans had been abolished through Jesus’ work. Sinful actions no longer held any power over them. Ephesians says, “But that is not how you learned about the Messiah, assuming you heard about Him and were taught by Him, because the truth is in Jesus. You took off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires; you are being renewed in the spirit of your minds; you put on the new self, the one created according to God’s likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth” (Ephesians 4:20-24).

Romans 6:8-11: Paul again points out the reality of Jesus’ physical death and resurrection. This time, he emphasizes the fact that the resurrected Jesus will never experience death again. In the same way, the Romans should “consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (v. 11). This was Wiersbe’s “Reckon” section of the chapter.² The Romans had to consider themselves dead to sin in order to actually be dead to sin. They had to understand what Jesus had done for them and what that meant for them as His followers.

Romans 6:12-14: Having considered themselves dead to sin, the Romans now had to yield to the Lord.³ They were to present themselves to the Lord for righteous purposes. Their minds were not to be distracted by unrighteous things but to be devoted to the Lord. Their eyes were not meant to be distracted by things of the world but to be aware of what the Lord would have them to do.

Romans 6:15-23: Paul fully answered the rhetorical question with which he began the chapter. If the Romans chose to continue sinning, they would show themselves to be slaves to sin. If they fully surrendered to Christ, they would present themselves as slaves to righteousness. The fruit they received from unrighteousness were things they are now ashamed of. As they presented themselves as slaves to righteousness, they would receive sanctification and eternal life. There was no way sin would produce the fruit of God. Sin only produced death. God’s gift of eternal life was only available through trusting Jesus and offering themselves as slaves to righteousness.

CLOSING

We know intellectually we are dead to sin, but Paul challenges us to really consider what it means for us to be dead to sin and alive in Christ. Then he challenges us to consider how we are yielded to Christ. How are we offering ourselves up to the Lord to be used for righteous purposes? How are we pursuing Christ as our master in order to pursue the abundant life He has promised?