Romans 7:17-20

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17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ~ Romans 7:17-20

Today, we return to our study of Romans 7 where the Apostle Paul instructs us that although we play a role in our sanctification, it is not us that renders the changes that come therein. These changes are rendered in and through our souls by the Holy Spirit Himself. When we were "born again," it was our spirit that was awakened to God and His culture. Our spirit was made alive to God due to our justification through our faith in Christ. That is when the Holy Spirit came into our hearts to make us alive to God and His culture. Not even our changed hearts make us right with God. 

Our sanctification takes place in our souls which is made up of our minds, our wills and our emotions. Simply put, our sanctification is the aligning of our souls with the culture of God as spelled out in His word.

In Romans 6-8 the Apostle Paul gives us a three part process whereby we are being changed by God from the inside out for the work of the ministry to which He has called us all. This process involves a biblical understanding of our relationship to sin as spelled out in Romans 6. This process also involves a biblical understanding of our relationship to the law of Moses in Romans 7. And, as we will see in Romans 8, this process also involves a biblical understanding of our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

In v.17-18 of today's passage we read, "17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find."

For the believer in Christ who has been redeemed by the grace of God, there is now something within us that causes us to want to do good, something that agrees with the Law and says that the Law is right. That something is the Holy Spirit. He is that something within us who says what the Law tells us to do is right. The Apostle Paul also says, there is something else in us that rises up and says "No, go your own way away from God!" That would be the flesh or the sinful desires that are still in us. Even though we find ourselves determined not to do what is bad, we suddenly find ourselves in such circumstances that our resolve to do good wanes, and, we end up doing what we had sworn we would not do.

So, there is a division within the believer in Christ. As humans, we all have within us a spirit, a soul, and a body. These three parts of our souls are distinctly different one from the other. Our spirit desires not to sin, it agrees with the Law that it is good. And yet, there remains in us "sin," which wars against our spirit. Due to this, failure is always a reality for us, even though we may be resigned to resist the temptation to go against God's Spirit who lives in ours. Since we have God's Spirit dwelling in us, we do not have to be constant failures. And, our success is always due to His presence within us.

In v.19-20 of today's passage we read, "19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."

Here the Apostle Paul underscores God's solution to the situation that has been accentuated in the previous verses. As believers in Christ, we can fight this battle in which we are engaged. Whereas, it is sin that is the ultimate culprit for all of the death and destruction in our lives, through our sanctification God is getting us to the place where we take responsibility for our choices. This does not mean that we will ever be perfect this side of heaven, this merely means that we are capable of living the type of life the Lord Jesus died to give us.

Our sanctification is a work primarily in our thought life. In 2 Corinthians 12 the Apostle Paul tells us about his "thorn in the flesh," which was a "messenger of Satan." This unwanted  "thorn" was key for Paul's growth in the culture and wisdom of God. Our story is no different that Paul's. Sometimes these trials come in great succession, and the design of these unwanted trials is to drive us into a deeper intimacy with God. Trails, although often from Satan, are useful to the process of our sanctification. And, the goal of this process is always "more of Him and less of me."

We must be careful to heed this warning against trying to live a holy life in our own strength. When we do this, we set ourselves up for failure. When we give in to that which we are dead to, namely sin, even though it may appear to be godly, we are not living out of faith but out of works. Just as it is futile to try to work our way into heaven, it is futile to work our way through our sanctification on our own. We are at our best when we are most dependent upon the Lord. When we operate apart from Christ, we will experience the dichotomy that Paul is describing in this passage. But, even this failure to walk with Him and to know Him, is a very important part of the process.

Romans 7:14--16

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"14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good." ~ Romans 7:14-16

Today, we return to our study of sanctification in Romans 6-8. In Romans 6 we learned of the believer's relationship to sin. In Romans 7 the Apostle Paul describes the Christian's relationship to the law. The Apostle wrote primarily to a group of people who didn't understand the purpose of the law. They didn't understand that they couldn't measure up the law and therefore earn God's favor. This does not mean that we should ignore the law because it delivers to the believer our sanctification.

The law was not given to us in order to solve our problem with sin. In fact, we are unable to solve our problem with sin. This is why the Lord sent us His Son, so that we could be delivered from the penalty, the power and the presence of sin. At the cross the Lord Jesus rendered the penalty of our sin null and void. It is through our sanctification that God is training us to be delivered by the power of our sin. One day, we will be delivered from the presence of sin when we are translated into heaven.

Israel, like all of us, was conflicted and in need a new heart. The law, which Israel was trying to adhere to, could not give them a new heart. Israel had become persuaded that the law, not God, had become their savior. Like Israel, when we believe we can earn God's favor, it makes us believe that we are superior to others. This superiority positions us to make those who do not fall into line with our rules based approach to life, as less than us.

In v.14 of today's passage we read, "14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin."

When we invited the Lord Jesus into our lives, many of us believed that turning away from sin meant never sinning. We thought that since we became followers of the Lord Jesus that all of a sudden we should no longer sin. But, this is totally unrealistic. And, when we fail at our attempts to not sin, we struggle with the idea that God has to be appeased into liking us again. We thought that our sin put Him out and that since we turned our backs on Him that He turned His back on us.

We did this because we did not understand the difference between justification and sanctification. We did not understand that our justification or rightness before God was a total gift. We earned not one ounce of God's favor, the Lord Jesus did it all on His cross. To think that we have to add anything to what the Lord Jesus did on the cross is to say that He was a failure at procuring our salvation. Justification is a one time deal, whereas sanctification is a daily process. God understands that we are all in process, and that we will never be perfect this side of heaven. 

In essence, the struggle that the Apostle Paul writes about in this chapter is of a man trying to live out the teachings of Romans 6, trying to live free from the penalty and power of sin without the Holy Spirit. Romans 7 is a description of someone trying to live out Romans 6 without the power of God. And, when we get to Romans 8, we will understand the full teaching of what a grace saturated and motivated life looks like.

In Romans 7, the word "I" is used some 30 times without a single mention of the Holy Spirit. Add to that the amount of times that the Apostle Paul used "me," "my," or "myself," that brings us to a total of 37 times in this passage that the "self" is accentuated. And, in Romans 8, we learn of the key to the success of the believer in the arena of sanctification: the Holy Spirit who is referenced at least 20 times in Romans 8 is the key. Our sanctification is the work of God in our broken and yielded lives, and in order to get to this point we must with Paul acknowledge that we are the problem.

The Apostle used the word "unspiritual" in v.14 which literally means that our flesh still "belongs to this fallen and sin-sick world." Every single believer in Christ, no matter how far along in the sanctification process we are, struggles with sin and we are in and of ourselves unspiritual. Paul wrote here of himself, that he himself was unspiritual. In fact, he goes on to say that we were "sold as slaves to sin." Even though we have been forgiven and we are assured heaven, we will struggle with sin until we matriculate to heaven.

Here, the Apostle, was simply describing what happens when  we, by our dedication and willpower and determination, try to obey God in order to gain or maintain His acceptance of us. When we do this, we are living under the Law. And Paul is telling us what to expect when we live like this. Sin deceives us into thinking that we must factor into our salvation.  

In v.15-16 of today's passage we read, "15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good."

Oh, the civil war in the soul of the believer in Christ. Once we have been "born again" we want to obey God because He is in our lives and He is opening our eyes to the reality of the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. A proper sanctification changes our motivation to obey God from "having to," to "wanting to." And, we struggle with the desire to meet our needs the way we had always met them before we became believers in Christ, in the flesh. The flesh, for all of us, is a fire hydrant that is hard to turn off, and, it will not be turned off fully until we get to heaven.

As believers in Christ, we struggle with the fact that we struggle over and over with certain reoccurring sins, and, we can't seem to get away from. This is what the Apostle Paul is describing here in these two verses. Paul is saying that he desired to do good and that agrees with the law. But the good that he wanted to do, he could not do. All believers in Christ struggle with this. This is a normal part of the process of our sanctification.

In Galatians 5:17 we read, "For the flesh wars against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary to one another so that you cannot do the things that you would." 

Since sin continues to dwell in us, nothing good apart from the Lord Jesus, via the Holy Spirit, dwells in us. This is a vital step to our deliverance from this often disappointing reality. We must have a realistic look at who we are in Christ and the fact that we are still sinners. In 1 John 1:8 we read, "If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Apart from God, we can do nothing of eternal value. 

The Gospel of Jesus Christ announces that since He won the battle over sin and death, we have been free to face the reality that we still struggle with sin. This frees us to be honest about the civil war that rages within us. We are able to do this because we are totally righteous before God through Christ. The perfection of Christ has been imputed to us and we are therefore fully justified on the basis of his finished work. Nothing can separate us from God’s love which is in Christ Jesus.

Since the Lord Jesus was strong for us, we’re free to be real. Oh yeah, we desire to bring glory to the Lord, but there are times that we fail in our pursuit of this. We are unwise when we do not walk in the truth which is what renders in and through us the very wisdom of God. This process of our sanctification underscores why we not only need the Lord Jesus for our justification, we also need Him for our sanctification. And, even the failure in our lives to battle sin factors into our sanctification. You see, our failure magnifies His success and His heart towards us. This makes us love Him more, and this, is what invites us into deeper intimacy with Him.

Romans 7:12-13

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12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful." ~ Romans 7:12-13

Today, we return to our study of sanctification in Romans 6-8. In these three chapters the Apostle Paul reveals a three part process useful to believers as we are learning to walk with God. Essential to this daily attempt to walk with God is understanding our relationship with sin, the law of God, and the Holy Spirit. At the end of the day, it is the Holy Spirit who expresses the life of the Lord Jesus in and through our yielded souls. It is the Lord who should always get the glory for the godliness of the believer in Christ.

In v.12 of today's passage we read, "So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good."

Whereas the Apostle Paul had just informed us in the previous verses that the law reveals our sin to us and it awakens sin in us, he now says that the law is holy, righteous and good. His point is: the problem is not with the law of God, the problem is with sinful man. If a person is convicted and sent to prison for murder we would not blame the law, would we? We wouldn't even blame the judge or the jury. The whole purpose of a court is to merely uphold the law. And so, the law of God is holy, and it reveals how short sinful man comes in reference to measuring up to it. 

God's law has always promoted goodness to mankind, but when it does not have free rein, its enemy, sin, runs rampant. As a result, sin delivers destruction to man which comes in a variety of ways. We experience sorrow, pain, and loneliness due to sin. The law of God is holy because it reveals God’s perfection, it is just because it is totally fair, and it is good because it promotes man’s highest blessedness. 

The nice part of this unfolding scenario is that where sin abounds, the grace of God abounds even more. This only happens as we allow God to have His rightful reign in our lives. Our problem is a lack of trust that is only gained when we go through the stuff of life and He demonstrates His faithfulness. As the law stirs up our sinfulness, we are potentially positioned to realize that we need help from God. And, anytime we run to the Savior, we will always discover that His grace is available to us.

In v.13 of today's passage we read, "Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful."

In Psalm 19:7 we read, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple."

The law of the Lord changes our minds, wills, and emotions, even though we can not measure up to it. Slowly, God uses His word to inculcate His culture into our souls. As a result, it makes wise the simple, it enables even the most unlearned to know the right way of living. And, as we have mentioned, the law does not get the blame for our sin. Of course, the key to all of this is the humility that enables us to admit that we have the problem, not God and His word. The law has never been bad or deadly. It is sin that is the culprit. When met with our sinfulness, the law revealed how undefined by God we truly are. The law reveals sin.    

The essence of sin is exposed when the definitions of God are revealed. It is through God's word or His definition of things that we understand what is right or wrong. The word of God exposes sin for what it is. The word of God undresses sin that we might know how conniving and destructive it is. Sin works death in everything and in every way, whereas God's word bring security and healing to our souls.

In the light of the law of God, we see ourselves falling short. Ideally, this posture should lead us to recognize how wretched we truly are, and, this is when we are primed to cry out to God for His mercy. Perhaps, you remember the story the Lord Jesus told in Luke 18 where the tax-collector said, "God be merciful to me a sinner."  The arrogant tax-collector made that request because he came to the realization that he was a sinner. This is what the law or the truth of God does to us. It is the law of God that informs us of our lost condition. Like the tax-collector, we were lost because we had wandered from God and His truth.

Having said all of this, we must be mindful that sin can even twist and pervert the purest thing there is. The law which was made to bring life, when mixed with sin, it becomes twisted and perverted. It is that twistedness and pervertedness that brings destruction and death. Sin manipulates God's law to deceive and damn us. This is why we must know the teachings of God for ourselves. This is why we, as believers in Christ, must maintain constant exposure to the word of God, the Bible. 

We came to Christ because we saw our need and we cried out to God for help. It is most blessed for us to be backed into a corner and thus being convinced that God is our only hope. In addition, as we relate with Christ every day, we need to and will see our sin so that we can confess it and be freed from it. When we trusted Christ as our savior, He forgave all of our sin, our past sins, our present sins, and our future sins. As believers, we do not confess our sin to gain God's forgiveness because we already have it. We confess our sin so that we do not develop a hard heart toward God and His truth. We confess our sin so that we can be delivered from the power of sin because the more we feed sin, the more powerful the flesh becomes.

This is exactly why King David wrote, "Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee." Even though King David was an Old Testament saint who never knew what it means to be "born again," he understood that when we keep ourselves exposed to God's law, we will be less apt to stray from the heart of God which is what provides for us the soul-curing intimacy with God that we so desperately need. 

Romans 7:7-11

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7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet." 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. 9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. ~ Romans 7:7-11

Today, we return to our study of Romans 7 where we are being instructed on the topic of sanctification. You will remember that beginning in Romans 6 through Romans 8 we are given a three fold process which results in our sanctification. Our sanctification will never be perfect this side of heaven. In Romans 6 we learned about the believer's relationship to sin. In Romans 7 we are learning about the believer's relationship with the law of Moses. And, in Romans 8 we will learn about the believer's relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Throughout the Bible, we discover that the gospel of Jesus Christ sets us free from the penalty, the power and the presence of sin. As we go through the sanctification process, we are being freed from the power of sin. Christ came to earth as a man to die, and He rose from the dead, so that we might come to know Him as our savior and friend. Christ paid the penalty for our sin on the cross so that we might be freed from selfishness, self-centeredness, bitterness, anxiety and all kinds of other dysfunctional things due to our fears. Sanctification takes place in our souls which is made up of our minds, wills, and emotions.

In v.7 of today's passage we read, "What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'"

In today's passage the Apostle Paul goes from using the third person, to using the second person, and then to using the first person. He talks about I, me, my, and myself. This observation reveals that this is his autobiographical sketch detailing his struggle with sin or his flesh. We should be encouraged that the Apostle struggled with sin and the Apostle was willing to reveal it to us. This is the struggle of the saved soul. So often, we think that this struggle is a bad sign. We have often thought that we had lost our rightness with God because of this. This is not so. In fact, our struggle with sin is a sign that there is the life of God within us. If He were not in us, we would not struggle as we do. The struggle is real because we still live in these bodies of sin and we have the Holy Spirit living in us.

Understanding this section helps us to navigate the Christian life that many think should be an upward success story toward perfection. Of course, we know that the Christian life includes many struggles and failures in our pursuit of walking with God. In fact, the Lord expects more sin out of us than we do ourselves because He knows how wicked sin really is. He also knows that we will never reach perfection this side of heaven. The beauty to it all is that with God failure isn't always the opposite of success. This is why Paul points out that the problem is not with the law, the problem is with us. 

In v.8 of today's passage we read, "But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead."

Paul's argument here is that the law draws out the rebellion that we know that is still within us, even though we have been justified before God through Christ. Here, Paul highlights the tenth command, "Thou shalt not covet," because covetousness is at the root of all sin. The Law deals with our hearts and it reveals to us our sin. This is the only way anyone can come to the salvation of the Lord. That which leads us to true salvation is an understanding of the absolute righteousness of God and our total depravity. The Law of God expresses God's perfect righteousness and it puts a demand on everyone who breaks it in the slightest way. We are led to true salvation through the overwhelming and frightening sense of the implications of breaking God's law. We are also kept in the faith through our continuing struggles with temptation and sin. The Lord Jesus not only wants to deliver us from the presence and penalty of sin, He also wants to deliver us from the power of sin. This is a big part of our sanctification.

In v.9-10 of today's passage we read, "9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death." 

The forbidden nature of sin serves to make it more attractive to us. This is partly why it is so danged hard to resist it. According to Deuteronomy 30, the law holds out the promise of real life. If the Jews had obeyed and measured up to the law from their hearts, the nation would have been sustained as God’s people. But they, like us, were deceived by sin which deceived them into being defined by the self. The consequence of sin has always been exile from the presence of God which is the most damning expression of sin and death. It is this death that shows how wicked sin really is because it takes us further and further away from God. 

In v.11 of today's passage we read, "For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death."

The Apostle hammers the idea that it is impossible to rely on our adherence to the law to make us right in God's eyes. This is so because even though the law of God is good and perfect, we are not. And, since we are imperfect, we can not measure up to the truth for ourselves. The law simply crushes us, but, this is good because it positions us to see the utter preciousness of the work accomplished by the Lord Jesus on the cross on our behalf. Christianity is not about the wood of a ladder that enables us to climb up to God. Christianity is about the wood of a cross that allowed God to come down to rescue sinful man. Christianity is about failures who give up on themselves and cast themselves upon the forgiving mercy of God through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Romans 7:4-6

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"4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." ~ Romans 7:4-6

Today, we continue our study of Romans 7 which describes the Christian's relationship to the law. The Apostle Paul addresses this theme because he is writing primarily to Jewish Christians who lived in Rome who had a faulty understanding of the purpose of the law of Moses.  

In Romans 6-8, Paul is giving us a formula for sanctification. The first part of that formula is the Christian's relationship to sin which is to not be a slave to it. The second part of that formula, given here in Romans 7, is the Christian's relationship to the law: not to think we can adhere to it. Later, we will discuss the third part to this formula found in Romans 8 which is about the believer's relationship with the Holy Spirit.

In v.4 of today's passage we read, "So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God."

As believers in the Lord Jesus, we now serve God, not sin, because of our union with Christ through his death and resurrection. The proof that we are dead to the old and alive to Christ is by the fruit produced. Essential to our sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit who enables us to "bear fruit for God." In this new way, the Holy Spirit replaces the law and creates a new kind of servant who strives to obey God from the heart. 

The "body of Christ" refers to the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross. The Lord Jesus came to earth to take on a perfect human body through the virgin birth. He did this so that He might die on the cross to provide forgiveness from God for our sin. On the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin for sinful man. He took our place on the cross, and by doing so, He freed us from the penalty of the Law of Moses.

In v.5 of today's passage we read, "For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death."

The flesh here speaks of our old sinful nature. Through Christ the believer in Christ has been freed from the power of sin. This does not mean that we will ever be sinless this side of heaven, it merely means that we do not have to obey the allurements of our sinful flesh. Our struggle is with the idea that we are totally forgiven of our sin, past, present and future, and yet, we struggle with the flesh which still trips us up in its sin.  

In v.6 of today's passage we read, "But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code." 

Believers in Christ have been released from the penalty of the Law and the power of sin so that we could serve in the new way of the Spirit. The goal is service which is the ultimate point of the book of Romans. You will remember that in the first fifteen verses of the first chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul subtly shared with us the characteristics that enables one to be a servant. And, you will also remember that the final five chapters of this book has as its theme service.

The word translated "serve" is the work that is chosen by the one who has experienced the grace of God. This service is perfect freedom, whereas the service of sin was a perfect drudgery. We gladly take on the role of a servant only after we have come to see the heart of God for the wretched sinners that we are. This service is the product of the Holy Spirit's work in our hearts.

"Bearing fruit for God" in v.4 is parallel to "serving in newness of the Spirit" in v.6. In John 15 the Lord Jesus shared the secret behind realizing the fruit of God in our lives: "abiding in the Vine." While the branch is a metaphor for the believer in Christ, the Vine is a metaphor for Christ. As a result of the branch abiding in the Vine, there will be fruit-bearing in and through his life. When we are consciously walking with the Lord, His life more freely flows through us. As a result, His fruit is realized in and through us. This is the secret to this life of service that the Lord Jesus has called us to. And, when we have been given His heart, we will want to do what a servant so desired to do: to carry out the will of this One who has laid down His life for us.

The new covenant promises an inner transformation. Under the old covenant, the law tried to control man's conduct. The new covenant promises a change in our hearts. By the law comes the knowledge of sin. But the law was unable to bring us to the complete knowledge of salvation. Under the law we were limited to reading the sheet music. Under the new covenant God says, I am going to put my song into your heart. This is why it is such a blessing to serve Him.

Romans 7:1-3

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"1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? 2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. 3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man." ~ Romans 7:1-3  

Today, we transition into Romans 7 where the overall topic in Romans 6-8 is the sanctification of the believer in Christ. You will remember that sanctification is about the salvation of our soul (our minds, our wills and our emotions).  And, you will remember that justification is different than sanctification. Whereas justification is being made right with God, sanctification is gaining the thoughts, ways, and wisdom of God, enabling us to experience the life the Lord Jesus died to give us. You will also remember that justification is based solely on our faith in the Lord Jesus' work on the cross. And sanctification is based on our ability to say, "no" to self, and, to say "yes" to the Lord in our thinking and choices.

In v.1 of today's passage we read, "Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?"

In today's passage the Apostle Paul addresses those who think that they measure up to the law of Moses and subsequently earn God's favor. The most often used word in Romans 7 is the word "law". Therefore, the theme of Romans 7 is the Christian's relationship to the law of Moses. These, to whom Paul wrote, believed that the Lord Jesus plus their goodness equaled their salvation. They did not understand that they could not measure up to the law, not even in the slightest bit. They did not understand that the law of Moses is completely perfect and inflexible. They did not understand that there is no bending of the laws rules and there were no exceptions. They did not understand that the law finds all under its jurisdiction guilty before God and deserving of hell. 

In v.2 of today's passage we read, "For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him."

Here, the Apostle Paul uses an illustration from marriage to demonstrate that Christ has fulfilled the requirements of the law, and the believer in Christ is subsequently dead to the law. Death ends the believer's responsibility to the law. The Believer has died to the law through our union with Christ. So, just as in a marriage, if the husband dies, the wife is free to remarry, the believer in Christ is free from the law and is now married to Christ. Just as the wife is free from the law because death ends her responsibility to her husband, the believer in Christ died in Christ and is therefore dead to his responsibility to measure up to the law. 

The law of Moses does not enable any human to rise above our sinfulness. The believer in Christ has been separated from the demands of the law when we were united with Christ. As a result, the Lord Jesus measures up before God on our behalf. It is a good thing that the law of God crushes us underneath its perfection, because when we have been brought to an end of self, the Gospel wraps us in its message and makes us presentable to God. And, the gospel only makes sense to those who have run out of options and have come to the relieving realization that we are incapable of measuring up to God's demands.

In v.3 of today's passage we read, "So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man."

Due to the entrance of sin into the world through Adam's choice in the Garden of Eden, all of mankind has been turned over to the dominion of the god of this world, Satan. By one man sin entered the world, and death through sin. Death spread to all. And, sin made us adulteresses with reference to God our Creator. Our existence was contaminated with a natural rebellion toward God.

When we were conceived, we were given a body, a soul and a spirit. Our soul is our consciousness, our ability to make decisions and to reason. Our bodies are inextricably connected to our souls. Our spirit was dead to God, because of what Adam did in the Garden of Eden. And, according to the Lord Jesus in John 3, in order for sinful man to be made right with God and to live with God for eternity, we must be "born again." And, of course, this is what happens to us when we trust in the finish work of Christ on the cross for the forgiveness of our sin.

Through the death of Christ on the cross the requirements of the law were met on the behalf of all who have placed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result, our lives should not reflect a ladder-centered version of the Christian faith. Rather, now that we have been forgiven through Christ, our lives should be lived out of a cross-centered perspective on life. 

For us who believe in Christ, God is now destroying our idol of self-sufficiency in order to reveal Himself as our sole sufficiency. God kills in order to make alive; he strips us in order to give us new clothes. He lays us flat on our backs so that we’re forced to look up to Him. God’s office of grace is located at the end of our rope. The thing we least want to admit is the one thing that can set us free: the fact that we are weak and helplessly dependent upon God.

Romans 6:19-23

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19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Romans 6:19-23

Today, we conclude our study of Romans 6 where the Apostle Paul is teaching us about our sanctification. In order to do so, Paul has presented a contrast between being a slave to sin and being a slave to God. Righteousness is God's definition of all things as found in His word, the Bible. Righteousness shows us the right way, the way of God, the culture of God. And, when we are being defined by God, we will know His holiness or wholeness. A life of righteousness is what we all long for, we just have difficulty understanding it because we are yet sinful. The enemy has long set out to lead us to believe that God's definitions of things is binding and not to be trusted. This is why we have such a hard time seeing the good in His culture.

In v.19 of today's passage we read, "I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness."

The righteousness of God renders His holiness. God's holiness is wholeness or completeness. It renders in us the sense of security that we all long for. What often leads us to serve sin or a degradation of the truth is our insecurities and our subsequent lack of trust in God. The last of the ten commandments is "do not covet." Covetousness is desiring what we do not have and it reveals our lack, which is what causes us to lust for that which we do not have. When we are defined by God, we grow in security or that sense that there is substance at the bottom of our lives. When we grow in His security, we will be on the pathway to being made more complete and whole. When we experience wholeness that the truth provides, we will recognize the utter idiocy of serving and being defined by sin. 

In v.20-21 of today's passage we read, "20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!"

The opposite of love is not hate; it is selfishness. Adam and Eve chose self over love. They chose self over God. Sin demeans God’s value. It states that God is not worthy of praise, loyalty, and obedience. Sin dishonors God. Sin fails to rightly glorify God. Our sin brings shame upon God, ourselves, and others. Shame is traced in the Bible all the way back to the Fall when the first couples "eyes were opened." Their shame made them hide from one another and God. Shame is that emotion that comes into our purview with the guilt that sin ushers into our lives. Much of our sanctification is designed to deal with this shame which prevents us from moving forward in our intimacy with God and others.

When we serve and obey sin, we invite death into our existence.  This death includes guilt and shame. Generally speaking we feel guilty for what we do and we feel shame for what we are. Whereas, shame focuses on a negative evaluation of the self, guilt focuses on the negative choices that we make because of the gulit. It is impossible to know the true meaning of life until we know the true meaning of death and all of its forms.

Death is the product of sin. Sin desires to make our addicted to it more important than God. Sin and all of its associates want to take away our humanity. Sin wants to tear our lives apart and, through us, the lives of those around us. When we choose to be defined by sin, it does not take us long to discover that it is quite dumb of us to go the way of sin. The frustrating thing is that it is our default mode. When we understand the negative consequences, we will have acquired the wisdom to shirk sin. This does not mean that we will ever be perfect or sinless this side of heaven, but it does mean that we can grow in God's wisdom and subsequent sanctification. And, once we understand the positive consequences of being defined by God, we will become more determined to walk in God's ways. 

Being a slave to God means we’ve been freed from sin. Twice in Roman 6 we are commanded to "present ourselves to God." In so doing, we turn our backs on that which wants to destroy us, namely the flesh. And, as a result we are freed to experience the life the Lord Jesus died to give us. This life is what the Bible calls "eternal life."

In v.22-23 of today's passage we read, "22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

God's holiness frees us from our guilt and shame. And, as long as we cling to sin, to the things that we know are wrong, we essentially refuse to enter into the freedom that Christ died to give us. The result of being freed from our guilt and shame is that others benefit from that which God brings into our yielded lives. This is partly why I say that the greatest purpose and result of our sanctification is that others benefit. When we walk in His light we enjoy His deliverance and His wisdom. When we are freed from the ugly work of sin, namely shame and guilt, we are freed to be less selfish and more selfless. This is the genius of God: that even our sin, guilt and shame are useful in His deliverance in and through our lives.

Eternal life is the opposite of the lies of the enemy has delivered. The life the Lord Jesus died to give us is a free gift. God has known all along that the answer to our frequent identity crises is not first and foremost focusing on who we are, but focusing on who He is. This enables us to know more than eternal life, this enables us to know Him who is eternal life.

Romans 6:15-18

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"15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness." ~ Romans 6:15-18 

Today, we continue our study of Romans 6 where we are learning about the overall theme of sanctification found in Romans 6-8. The specific theme in Romans 6 is the Christian's relationship to sin. Sanctification is about the salvation of our soul. And, the soul is made up of three parts: our minds, our wills and our emotions. So, sanctification is what it looks like for our souls to be in the process of being delivered from the domination of sin. 

In v.15-16 of today's passage we read, "15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?"

The Apostle's question here is slightly different than the question in v.1 but essentially the same. In v.1, the question is: "Can we go on abiding in sin, living in a lifestyle of sin?" But now, the question is "shall we sin." Paul is raising the question of whether a Christian ought to choose to sin occasionally because he enjoys the momentary pleasure that sin gives.

We all face this proposition multiple times in a day. We are so tempted to sin because sin appeals to our sin nature and it is so doggone fun, but it is foolish to serve sin. At times, we all are confronted with the feeling "Why not give in? After all, I'm not going to hell because of this. My salvation rests on Christ and not on me. And actually, God is not going to reject me because of this, for the Law does not condemn me any longer. I am not under the Law. It is love that will discipline me; Law will not condemn me. I'm already forgiven; so why not deliberatetly sin?" 

As believers in Christ, we can go on and sin deliberately, even if it is only occasionally, but we must be mindful of what sin does to us. Sin is out to destroy us. When we yield to sin, we are in danger of becoming slaves to sin. In John 8:34 we read, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he that commits sin is the slave of sin." A slave is someone who is not in ultimate control of his own actions, someone who is at the disposal of another person, someone who has to do what that other person says. When we choose to tell a lie, we give one of the clearest evidences of the operation of this principle in our lives. When we tell one lie, we can be sure one is soon to follow.

In v.17 of today's passage we read, "But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance." 

This verse literally reads, "You have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine into which you were delivered." It does not read "which has delivered to you." It reads, "into which you were delivered." The Apostle used the Greek word here that means "a casting mold." And, the mold is in the shape of a servant. When we came into this world, we were poured into a mold, and when we came out after the molten metal cooled, we came out as slaves of sin. But, thank God that we responded to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ by obeying the form into which you were poured. When God saw us as slaves to sin, by His great grace, He melted us down and reduced us to His mold.  And, with God as our newfound Father, our goal is now to be defined by Him and His righteous culture. The key is to obey Him from our hearts. And the engagement of our hearts with God's heart comes as we learn to trust Him. And the more we go through the trials of life, the more we will get to know His heart for us.

In v.18 of today's passage we read, "You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."

When we were born again, we began to see the utter idiocy of sin. The cross of Christ delivered us from the rules that we long thought would obtain for us rightness before God. The cross erased our past and has given us a future full of promise. The cross of Christ has set us free so that we can now grow in the culture of God. Once we get to this place, we gladly choose to be slaves of righteousness. In fact, it is really not that smart to obey sin. It is wisdom that leads us to obey God and His word.  And, our obedience to God's word is the expression of our faith in Him. And it is in this context that we learn to trust Him to the point of being slaves to His righteousness.

Romans 6:11-14

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11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 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. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. ~ Romans 6:11-14

Today, we return to our study of Romans 6 where the Apostle Paul is instructing us on the topic of sanctification. Having established that the believer in Christ has a civil war going on in his soul, the Apostle is now giving us the steps that aid us in learning to live according to God's culture.

In v.11-12 of today's passage we read, "11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts."

The Apostle began v.11 with the word "likewise" because he is tying the instructions he gives in today's passage with the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus mentioned in the previous verse. Every believer in Christ "has died to sin with Christ" which means that we have been given the power to say "no" to sin and we now do not have to obey sin. As we have pointed out before, sin is selecting another definition of anything other than God's definition. When we trusted Christ as our personal Savior, His power was made available to us to choose God's way of thinking and living. When we reject sin, we do so because Christ lives in us.  

The first step involved in being defined by God's culture is to "reckon ourselves dead to sin." The Apostle utilized the Greek word from which we get our English word "logic." This word means "to calculate," or, "to estimate something to be true." It means: What God says to be true in His word is true, thus we choose to live our lives accordingly. So, to "reckon" something is to believe something to be true so much that we make choices in concert with that truth. 

When we turn away from sin, we discover that our old habits are deeply engrained in us. In time, we discover that we have the power to say "no" to sin because we have the life of Christ within us. Thinking His thoughts and walking in His ways will always be a struggle this side of heaven, but as we grow in our faith, learning God's faithfulness, we will move forward toward the freedom the Lord Jesus died to grant us.

I think of the Robert the Bruce in the movie, Braveheart who was a "Nobleman." Along with other "Noblemen," Robert the Bruce had made a pact with King Longshanks of England that they would turn a blind eye as the English soldiers would periodically invade Scotland, pillage the land and rape the woman. Just as long as the English would not bother the land or the women of the Noblemen. At the end of the movie, Robert the Bruce, the former coward, had had enough. And in the end of the movie it was Robert the Bruce who turned his back on his cowardice ways and fought for the freedom of Scotland. 

This is a picture of today's passage. We decide to be defined by God, not just for our freedom, but for the freedom of all those who would be touched by the ministry of God in and through our lives. This is why I say that our sanctification is not so much about us changing as it is about our lives being useful to others who see God's work of transformation in and through our lives.

In v.13-14 of today's passage we read, "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. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

The second step involved in this process of our sanctification is in "presenting ourselves to God," which is when we experience intimacy with God. When we trust God, then allow Him to define us by obeying His Word, it will be then that we experience His heart in and through our lives. Since the Lord Jesus died for us, He conquered sin and death. As a result, sin is a dethroned monarch. Even though we know that our sin has been forgiven us, dethroned sin will always try to stake its claim on us. But, we do not have to obey it. When we let God define us, we make choices that are in concert with His word. We choose not to steal because God has told us not to steal, and, we choose to tell the truth because God has told us not to lie.

The word "instruments" can be translated "weapons." Instead of allowing the devil to use our minds, our wills and our emotions, for his purposes, we choose to yield our souls to God, allowing Him to define us. This is basic military strategy. We do not give our weapons to the enemy, and, as soldiers, we never give the enemy the upper hand. So, we choose the weapons of our God to battle the mental games the enemy tries to play with us. This is why it is so important for us to hide God's word in our hearts. 

Most believe that once we become believers in Christ that the goal is to adhere to the Law of Moses. As we have pointed out, this is impossible even though we have been made righteous in God's eyes. We have been so engrained with this way of thinking that when we sin, even as believers in Christ, we think God gets angry with us and we have to go through some period of time to earn His kindness back. This is not so.  

The believer in Christ is no longer under the Law. Now, we are under God's grace which is the greatest change agent in the world. You see, once we become saturated by God's grace, our hearts are changed so much that we will find that we can't wait to be defined by God; not because we have to but because we want to. The Lord Jesus died so that we could not only be righteous in God's eyes, but also that we might know His life of holiness in and through our lives. The wholeness that His holiness brings to our souls has such an affect on us that we will daily live out of this idea: Less of me and more of Him.

Romans 6:6-10

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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. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  ~ Romans 6:6-10

Today, we return to our study of Romans 6 which is about the believer's relationship with sin. The broader subject in this section is our sanctification which is the process through which God delivers our souls from the bondage of sin.

Having traced the parallel between what happened to the Lord Jesus when He was crucified on the cross and the battle that takes place in the life of the new believer in Christ, the Apostle Paul now addresses what he calls "our old man." The moment we were conceived, we were infected by the disease of self. And this is "the old man."

In v.6-7 of today's passage we read, "... 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."

The Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in order to bring to an end sin. While Christ hung on that tree, all sin was judged in His body. As a result, for those who place their faith in that finished work on the cross, the penalty and power of sin has been broken. Even though the Lord Jesus never sinned, "He was made sin for us." While on that cross His body became possessed and controlled by sin. That is why his body died. His body was rendered powerless with regard to sin. That is why he was buried. He was buried to show that the sin in his body was made useless and unresponsive. 

The parallel teaching here is that when our spirit died in Christ, then the body of sin was rendered powerless. Before we became  believers in Christ, even when we tried to be good, we couldn't. This happened because we were slaves to sin. But now that the bond has been broken, we have been freed to have a personal relationship with God though Christ. And, the believer in Christ, as a result, does not have to sin. If we do, it is because we allow it to happen. But we are no longer slaves to sin.

In v.8-9 of today's passage we read, "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."

Having been freed from the power of sin, the believer does not have to be defined by sin and death. In fact, we have been freed to experience a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus since He is alive and we were raised to new life in Him. We must be realistic to understand that within the believer in Christ who has been born again, there is now a civil war going on. On a given day the believer is presented with the temptation to obey sin that is still in us or to obey God who came into us when we were born again. The process of sanctification bears this fact out as the believer lives his life.

In v.10 of today's passage we read, "For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God."

Contrary to what most believe the Christian life is not about the perfecting of the believer, it is about the pronouncement of the life of the Lord Jesus in and through the yielded life of the believer. Christianity is a personal relationship with God through which He navigates life for the believer as the believer depends upon Him to do so. No one earns God's favor. No one maintains God's favor. 

So, to live life as if I have got to get it right is inconsistent with the fact that Christ earned God's favor of us. Christianity is living daily life with the minute by minute choice to act and react to what life throws at us. In essence, now that we have come into relationship with God, we are now learning to listen to Him, interact with Him and follow Him as He navigates our lives. And, when we appear to be getting it right, we must be careful to give Him the credit because He is the One producing the results.

In his song, The Great Adventure, Stephen Curtis Chapman frames up what the Apostle Paul has been presenting to us. In that song Chapman sings, "Come on, get ready for the ride of your life, gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind. And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored. This is what we were created for! Saddle up your horses, we've got a trail to blaze through the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace. Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown. This is the life like no other. This is The Great Adventure."

Romans 6:3-5

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3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ~ Romans 6:3-5

Today, we return to our study of Romans 6 which is about the sanctification of the believer in Christ. Whereas justification is a one time event in the life of the believer in Christ, sanctification is a process whereby God installs His culture into the believer. Today's chapter is predicated on the question that the Apostle Paul asks in v.1, "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" 

One way that we discover a theme in a passage is to take note of the repeatedly used words therein. And, you will notice that the word "sin" is used in Romans 6 some seventeen times. Therefore, the theme of Romans 6 is the relationship between the believer in Christ to sin. This is the apex arena for the process of change that the Lord Jesus died to render in the lives of all who have come to believe on the Lord Jesus as our savior.

When the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to the church at Rome, he addressed some of the most affluent, well educated people in the world at that time. These to whom Paul wrote had tried all this world has to offer to fill the holes in their hearts to no avail. This is why Paul spends the first five chapters of this letter making the case that only the grace of God can really satisfy us. But, most often the church has distorted the grace of God by equating Christianity with moralism. As the Apostle develops in the remainder of this book, it is the grace-saturated life that is God's answer. 

Moralism is not the same as the grace-saturated life for moralism is religion because it is based upon our efforts to try to get life right. The problem with moralism is it says that on the cross the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for our sin, but now it is up to us to get life right. Moralism has a second chance mindset, whereas the grace-saturated life brings us to an end to ourselves. Moralism reduces the Lord Jesus to a moral example to be emulated. As a result, moralism eventually reduces salvation into guilt for our failed attempts at trying to imitate Christ. The problem with this is we can't. Rather than needing one second chance to get life right, we need a whole new life. And, that whole new life is the very life of Christ come to abode in and through us.

In v.3 of today's passage we read, "Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?"

The major key to Christianity is that we learn to embrace the new life that is offered to us in Jesus Christ. The world around us says we have to grab all the life this world has to offer before we die. The Lord Jesus says just the opposite. It is only when we begin to learn to die to self that we really begin to live. And, nothing prevents us from being fully alive like fear.

The Lord Jesus died to give us a life that we could not produce for ourselves. The life that the Lord Jesus offers is life of the eternal nature and it brings us to real freedom. Most believe freedom is the ability to do what we want to do, how we want to do it, when we want. This is not true because we are our own worst enemies, even though we have been born again. Real freedom is the ability to be what we were created to be. And that is to have a personal relationship with our Creator, whereby He gives us His transforming life. 

In v.4-5 of today's passage we read, "4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his."

The justification of the believer in Christ is not just a legal matter, it's a living relationship. Our justification brought to us the very life of Christ. Therefore, the power to live the life the Lord Jesus died to give us is not the result of us learning to imitate the Lord Jesus. No believer in Christ can avoid sins power by merely imitating the example of the Lord Jesus to get life right. We can no more do this any more than we could avoid falling off a building by imitating Superman. Imitation is not what this newfound relationship with God is about and it is not the essence of Christianity. 

The key to the life the Lord Jesus died to give us is impartation. This is why the Apostle uses the object lesson of water baptism. The believer in Christ, according to the scriptures, is in Christ. This means that we through our baptism have been identified with Him. Therefore, whatever happened to Him, happened to us. When He died, we died. When He rose from the dead, we rose from the dead. When He conquered sin, sin was conquered in our lives. This does not mean we will be perfect. It just means that we will no longer be defined by sin.

Through our living union with the Lord Jesus, we have a new relationship with sin. The believer in Christ has made a break with his past. We are dead and buried in our identification with the death and burial of the Lord Jesus Christ. Due to this we are also risen with Him in newness of life. So, the key is to learn to appropriate His resurrected life and death into our lives. And now, we are no longer servants to self and sin, we are now servants to the living God whose life is setting us free from even our fear.

Romans 6:1-2

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"1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" ~ Romans 6:1-2

Today, we transition into Romans 6 where a new topic is introduced. In fact, in Romans 6-8 we will be instructed on the topic of sanctification. Up to this point in the book of Romans, Paul has been building a case proving that "...there is no one who is righteous." He has also established the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth to buy back man from the clutches of sin and death. So, in Romans 4-5 we learned about justification by faith which is what renders our salvation.

As we transition into Romans 6-8 we will learn about sanctification or the process whereby God is changing the soul of the believer. Our souls is made of three parts: our minds, our wills and our emotions. It is our justification gets us into heaven and our sanctification gets heaven into us now. We might say that sanctification is the acquisition of the wisdom of God. Or, the ability to live in concert with God's culture.

In v.1 of today's passage we read, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?"

Everything the Apostle Paul presents in Romans 6 is in response to the question, "Since the grace of God was so magnified by our sin, shouldn't we continue to deliberately sin so that His grace will be magnified even more?"

Now, it is imperative that we understand the Apostle Paul is talking about a lifestyle of sin, not just a single sin or two here and there. Even though we have trusted Christ as our Savior, we will yet sin. Being a Christian does not mean that we will cease to sin. In this verse, the Apostle is describing the lifestyle of a believer who deliberately chooses to ignore God's definition of things and embraces what he knows to be opposite of God's definitions. He also knows this is foolishness.

In November of 1981 I had been a Christian for only a couple weeks. A few friends, knowing that I was struggling with my dad's death, came to my house and invited me to go out on the town with them. Their goal was to cheer me up. While riding in the car, we did what we had done so many times before; we smoked a couple of joints. Many, many times before, we had done this. However, for the first time in my life, I felt guilty over what I was doing. I didn't understand why I felt guilt. It took me quite some time before I began to understand why I had that experience: it was the presence of the Holy Spirit in my life. I had been born again and the presence of God in my life, caused me to have a new angle on life. Even though I was a brand new Christian, I instinctively knew that it was unwise to smoke marijuana. This happened because I had entered into a personal relationship with God and through His Holy Spirit He had begun changing me from the inside out which is what sanctification is.

In v.2 of today's passage we read, "By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" 

In this verse the Apostle Paul begins to answer the previously asked question. The question? Should we continue to live a lifestyle of sin so that God's grace may abound and be magnified in our lives? Paul's answer was the strongest adversative he could have chosen. How could those who had come to understand the utter futility of sin continue to make the choice to be defined by it intentionally?  

The Apostle is giving us another comparison, pointing out that if we are dead to sin, it is mindless to conclude that we would want to continue to serve the tyrant that once enslaved us. This is an argument of intelligence. Prior to our relationship with Christ, sin was our natural way of thinking. We depended on our sinful default mode to live our lives. But, when we turned to Christ and trusted Him as our Savior, it all changed. It does not make sense that we would choose to live in the muck and the mire of sin, especially since we have been born again and we see life anew. Again, Paul wasn't speaking of a believer's occasional falling into sin, because that happens to everyone. No, Paul was speaking of those who intentionally, willfully choose to sin as an established pattern of their life.  

Essentially, the Apostle is telling us to get up and to start growing in this newness of life that we have been given through the Lord Jesus. The problem for those to whom Paul wrote this book was they believed that their obedience to the rules earned them God's favor. They also believed it resulted in salvation. But throughout Romans, Paul has been showing us that there is no way we can earn God's approval. To be holy is to be defined by God and to choose to live accordingly.

But the great news is that God's favor towards us comes not on the basis of what we've done for Him, but on the basis of what He's done for us. He doesn't expect any of us to pass the course before enrolling in it. And, our enrollment will be finalized when we get to heaven. The Lord Jesus decided to take the test for us and then He chose to give us the grade that He got, and He got an A-plus. 

Our understanding of this wonderful truth should revolutionize the way we live our lives. Holy living is sanctified living which is set apart living. We have been set apart to live in concert with His culture which yields the fruit of the Spirit in and through our lives. If we have been saved, we will bear fruit because God's presence is in our lives. Salvation produces holy or whole living, primarily because holy living is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. And, the purpose of our sanctification is that others might look into our lives and desire what we have ... an honest relationship with the God of the universe who is delivering us from this world and ourselves.

Romans 5:18-21

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18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. ~ Romans 5:18-21

Today, we conclude our study of Romans 5. These last four verses in Romans 5 bring to a conclusion this massive section on justification by faith alone. Over and over and over the Apostle Paul has been making this comparison between Adam and the Lord Jesus Christ. Whereas Adam made a very bad choice and rendered the worst news ever to mankind, the Lord Jesus chose to come to earth to be the satisfying sacrifice so that all could be redeemed from death.

In v.18 of today's passage we read, "Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people."

In this verse the Apostle Paul is drawing to a close his argument in this section on justification by faith. The Greek word translated "trespass" means "a false step, departing from the path, to go astray." This refers to when Adam first sinned in the Garden of Eden. God had commanded Adam not to eat from from this one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam had the entire world at his disposal, except for this one tree. But, Adam chose the way opposite of God. He saw it with his eyes, he desired it in his heart, and as an act of flagrant, defiant disobedience to God, with his eyes wide open, Adam took the fruit of which God had said, “You shall not eat of this fruit.” As a result, through Adam's "trespass" sin and death contaminated the world and its inhabitants. 

But, the story does not end there. God saves us through Christ because it corresponds to the way we were condemned through Adam. Justification unto life corresponds with condemnation unto death. And our condemnation, at its deepest root, comes not from what we did individually but from what Adam did as our representative. And so our justification, at its deepest root, comes not from what we do but from what Christ did. The reason Paul developed this comparison between Adam and Christ is to make clear that the root cause of our justification is the righteousness of Christ which came to us through the obedience of Christ.

In v.19 of today's passage we read, "For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous."

Once again Paul reinforces the contrast between the first man, Adam, and the God-Man. In this verse hope, yet again, abounds and gains the upper hand for anyone willing enough to receive it. The result through Christ is quite different than the result that happened through Adam. Righteousness is the gift given to the believer in Christ. 

"The obedience of One" is a reference to the generosity of the Lord Jesus when He willingly chose to leave the perfection of heaven to come to earth eventually going to the cross and being made a sacrifice for sin. Just as Adam's sin was imputed to all men, Christ's obedience was imputed to the willing of heart to believe in this wonderful promise from the One who fashioned us in our mother's womb. The Greek word translated "righteous" means "the justified ones." These are not justified by their actions, they are justified because God has declared them justified through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. 

In v.20-21 of today's passage we read, "20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The Law of Moses has never produced righteousness in man. It was actually given to accentuate to man his inability to be good enough. The more sinful man gets, the more he has to, out of desperation, throw himself into the grace of God that is found in Christ Jesus. In this context, man's desperation makes him cry out to God. All of this is a means of God's grace. And, it happens when we have come to an end of ourselves. 

Five times in the greater context of today's passage, we see the phrase, "all the more." The Apostle used this phrase in order to communicate how efficacious is the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. And, the efficacy of Christ's gift is not understood properly unless we gain a biblical understanding of sin. This explains why Paul has spent so much time making this comparison. Under sin and death, we were rendered dead to all that is good. And, the only answer to man's damned condition is the grace of God.

The grace of God is always one-sided. It has to be, otherwise, it would not be grace. God's grace is much greater than sin and death which was poised to render incalculable pain into our existence. That is until the grace of God showed up on the scene. The law put our depravity and utter hopelessness on display. God's grace put the Lord Jesus Christ on display. This is why once sinners have come to know the Lord Jesus, they begin a journey at learning to adoring the one who laid down His life for His friends. In fact, as believers in the Lord Jesus, we will forever be learning the amazing nature of God's grace which is so powerful, it is slowly changing our hearts. I can only imagine what eternity will bring.