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| Chapter 6 |
| Bible Text | Notes and Thoughts |
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1 ¶ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid! How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, so we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 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. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death no more hath dominion over Him. 10 For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 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. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid! 16 Know ye not that to whomever ye yield yourselves as servants to obey, his servants ye become whom ye obey, whether of sin which leads unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though ye were the servants of sin, now ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19 I speak in the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members as servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. |
chap.6 to chap.8. How we are "Set Apart" for God (Sanctified). The daily walk of the Christian is the subjects of chapters 6,7 and 8. Romans chap.6 looks at the life of victory and peace. This does not mean we will not have times of testing and trials, but we can come through if we hand it all to the Lord. Paul shows us how God has dealt with the wrongs (sins) of man in chap.1 to chap.5. Heb 2:9-14; Heb 10:10. Paul ended Rom 5:20 with "Grace will abound" He now asks "Shall we do wrong to our hearts content to get more grace?" God’s grace is sufficient to cover any sin but this action will take God for granted. We do not have the right to live just as we want. It is also important to note that Paul is actually using the word sin as "a sinful nature," not individual acts of sins. We have a new life, a new nature through Jesus, we should not want to live our old life, "God forbid" (unthinkable) v2. 2 Peter 1:3,4 We still have the old nature but we can let Jesus control it. Gal 5:17. v3,v4 Identification with Christ into His death and burial.1 Cor 12:13; Gal 2:20. v2-11 Why? We are dead to wrong things (sin), before salvation we are controlled by sin, but now we are dead to sin. Gal 5:1; Gal 3:27, part of Christ. This is part of the ‘package’ which comes with salvation, we do not need to work for it. 1 John 3:9; 2 Cor 5:17; Col 1:13 Note: we can still do wrong, we still have our old nature, it is still part of us. Think of the story of Israel leaving Egypt in Exodus, Egypt did not cease to exist, but the Israelites were not now under its control. 6:12 - 7:6 Sanctification by grace and legalization. Paul now tells us to "Let not" v12, "yield" v13, "know" v3,6,9,16. Some take this chapter to say we are sinless, we must not think we are sinless and perfect, 1 John 1:8; Rom 3:23. Paul is teaching ‘Christian maturity.’ The reference to "know" in these verses indicated that we may not understand these basic doctrinal facts. Eph 1:18,19; Heb 2:1, we should not try to imitate Christ, just take what he has made available to us. 6:12-23 Set apart and freedom. Who controls your life now? We have responsibilities. v12 Our responsibility, note it is "YOU"(ye) not "us," it is a personal action. We must say "no to temptation, yes to Christ." v13 Paul warns us about how we should live our new life, even how we use our hands and feet and so on, "members as instruments of unrighteousness." We should avoid doing anything which is wrong. The thoughts and instructions given in v11 and v12 are the answer to the warnings in v13, if Jesus is the center of your life the rest will follow and you will be victorious. Who are we giving (yielding) into? We must hand it all to God. He now owns us, He paid the price, through Jesus, for each one of us. 1 Cor 6:13b; Gal 5:16; Rom 12:1; Col 3:1-3. We have the Holy Spirit inside us to help us do this.Phil 2:13. 2 Cor 5:17; Eph 2:10; Col 3:10 Our sin nature is not dead and will be with us until we die physically, so we must keep control of it with God’s help. James 1:14-16; Eph 4:22-24; Matt 16:24. Note that v13 is a giving (yielding) to God, not to some task He has given us, this will come later. Only when we have given into His Will for us will He let us work for Him. v14 The grace of God breaks the power of sin, the power of God is more than able to control our wrong desires and nature. v15 Paul now asks another question, because we are now under grace and not the law can we ignore the law all together? Rom 6:1. Anyone asking question this does not understand God’s Love and Grace for us, a Christian is not under the condemnation due to the Law but is now in liberty from the Law through Christ, this should stop us wanting to do wrong things. If you continue to do wrong things, sin and live a life unworthy of God and you are supposed to be saved, then it shows who your ‘master’ is, v16. Christ should be our only Lord. Who is your master? Gal 5:1. We can only serve one master v17-20, freed from wrong and become servants, free willed slaves of things which are right with God (righteousness). v21,22 We see the different results, or fruits, by serving the two different masters, God or Satan. There are many who say they believe in Christ but have never turned their lives over to Him. They appeared to have made a choice for Jesus but their lives show no desire to live godly life afterwards. v23 Paul reminds us that salvation is a gift through Jesus, there is no other way. |
Easy English Translation
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