Introduction

All of mankind are guilty before God, having not lived out the light of His ways that they have received. Every human being knows something of God’s law, either through the conscience or the Bible, and yet we have rebelled against this law, and innately tried to suppress it. All of humanity needs salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the sobering message of Romans chapters 1 – 3. In Romans chapters 4 -5 the apostle Paul then shows that faith in Christ saves us from sin’s penalty. Chapter 4 reveals that salvation from the coming wrath of God’s judgment upon man’s sin has always through faith.  Chapter 5 reveals that through faith in Christ we have peace with God and eternal life, escaping the judgment to come. As we come to Romans 6 – 8, we see that faith in Christ also breaks sins power over us.

In Romans chapter 6 Paul is defending the Gospel against an accusation.  The accusation is this, “If God’s acceptance of me is based on faith and not works, does that mean I can sin all the more and that God will forgive me if I have faith?” People who reason like this are completely ignorant of the sanctifying power of the Gospel, the Gospel’s power to impart holy living. The key question is this, “Does God accept us because we are good, or does the only chance of us being good depend upon God accepting us in the first place?”

Union With Christ In His Death and Resurrection

Some might instantly turn around and say, “Ah, so if it’s not by what we do that gets us right with God, that means I can go off and sin and do all sorts of things knowing that as long as I believe, I’m right with God.”  That the Gospel might give people a license to sin is what Paul is refuting in this chapter.

“What shall we say then?  Shall we continue and sin that grace may abound?  Certainly not!  How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”  Romans 6:1,2

If God’s grace is displayed in forgiving sin, won’t God receive more glory if I sin all the more, giving more for God to forgive? This would be another way of twisting this doctrine.  To this question, Paul gives an emphatic “No”.  This query arises from ignorance of how true holiness is obtained.  Once in Christ, the believer has died to sin, and has new power for holy living. As the power of sin is broken over the believer, how can they remain in sin?  This raises the question of how power of sin has been broken. There are two important principles here.

First Spiritual Principle – The Believer is United with Christ in His Death

The fact that we are united with Christ in His death is stated in verse 3, while verse 6 makes the implications known:

“Or do you not know that as many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”  Romans 6:3

“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.”  Romans 6:6

Christ died a physical death on the cross – verse 3.  The consequences for the believer is that they have died a spiritual death to sin by being linked with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Or as Paul puts it, “our old man was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be done away with that you should no longer be slaves of sin.”  Sin is no longer the dominant and ruling power in the believer’s life because they have been united with the Lord Jesus Christ as He died upon a cross.

Second Spiritual Principle – The Believer is United with Christ in His Resurrection

But the believer is not only united with Christ in His death, as I’ve mentioned, but also in His life; verse 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.”  Romans 6:4

Christ was raised from the dead, and just as He is raised from the dead to live a holy life, even so we walk in newness of life.

“For if we have been united in the likeness of His death, certainly, we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection.” Romans 6:5

The believer is united with Christ in His death, breaking the power of sin over us, and is united with Christ in His resurrection infusing something of that divine, holy life into us.  The believer is united with Christ in His resurrected life. Christ was raised physically from the grave, and as Christ now lives a holy life, He also empowers the believer to live a life of holiness. The whole point of the believer being united with Christ in His death was to be united with Him in his newness of life.  This is the source of our holiness.

Sis no longer the dominant effect over us.  Christ working in us by His Spirit stimulating, promoting holiness within our lives.  People who say that they will be accepted by God because they’re good people have put the cart before the horse; they have got it totally and utterly the wrong way around.  You can’t even begin to live out something of the holiness that God wants until you have confessed your sin and your utter wretchedness before Him, seeing your need of salvation. When you do that, God gives you a new power to live a holy life.

Water Baptism is a Picture of Spiritual Union or Baptism

The Greek root word ‘baptizein’ means to plunge, immerse, sink. When Paul uses the word ‘baptism’ he talks about the believer having been baptized into the Lord Jesus Christ, being immersed, being brought into His death and life. This is the believers spiritual baptism. People often think of water baptism, but water baptism is simply a picture of what the spiritual baptism has accomplished. Spiritual baptism is the reality; water baptism is simply the picture of the spiritual.  The scripture never gives any saving or cleansing effect to the physical ritual that is performed; it was always a picture of what the spiritual has already accomplished.  Water is used to symbolize the washing, the purifying, the cleansing of our lives achieved by the Holy Spirit who unites us with Christ, sanctifying our lives.

I believe in baptism by immersion, but I should also say that I am certainly not to going to fall out with anybody who has a different view on that.  We can push the picture further. As the believer goes underneath the water, this symbolizes their unity with Christ in His death. As the believer comes up from the water, this symbolizes being raised in newness of life, being washed by the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual baptism, being united with Christ, being immersed, brought into His body – the church – happens at the point of conversion, when we find that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  In 1 Corinthians 12:13 Paul states that whether we are Jew or Gentile, whatever background we have, we are baptized by one spirit into the Lord Jesus Christ. All believers are brought into his presence.

We Are Either United With Christ (Believers) or Will Be United to Hellfire (Unbelievers)

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:11,12

When John the Baptist says He (meaning Christ) will baptize you, he’s talking to a multitude of people. This multitude contains those whom he knows will believe and those whom he knows will reject the Lord Jesus Christ.  Talking to this multitude of people, he says, “The Lord Jesus Christ will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”  The Lord Jesus Christ will immerse people into one of two things – the Holy Spirit for believers, and eternal judgment, the fire of Hell, for unbelievers.

Why do I believe he’s meaning the spiritual baptism of conversion, immersing, uniting believers with the Lord Jesus Christ but also the baptism of being immersed into hell fire for all eternity for unbelievers? In the very next verse John, while talking to this assembled body of people, says the Lord Jesus Christ has “His winnowing fan is in His hand.”  As the harvest came in off the field, the grain and the chaff were mixed together.  The winnowing fan was used to throw the grain up into the air, the lighter chaff blew away, the heavier grain fell down.  It was a tool of separation, of division into two distinct groups; the chaff was separated and removed from the grain.  John continues, “He will gather His wheat into the barn,” – the believers will be immersed through spiritual baptism into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ in union with Him, “but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” the unbeliever will face Hell for all eternity.

So a serious question for us to ask ourselves is which baptism do we have?  Have we already experienced this spiritual baptism, this immersion into Christ that happens to the point of conversion through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?  Are we immersed and brought in to His body, where we are united with Him and have a new power for holy living? Or is our baptism one of hell fire for all eternity?  Have we made Him Lord and Saviour, or do we still trust in our own righteousness to carry us through the Day of Judgment?

Union with Christ has Means the Believer is Dead to Sin and Alive to God

“For he who has died has been freed from sin.” Romans 6:7

Not just part of, but the whole of the believer is transformed as the old man is crucified and the body of sin is removed.  Sin corrupted every part of us – heart, mind, soul.  We wouldn’t recognize or accept God’s laws; we had our own wills and wanted our own way.  We had a sinful nature which lusted against the things of God.  Every part of man has been corrupted by sin and requires reworking by the Holy Spirit.  As a believer has died in Christ to sin, the power of sin is broken over them.

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.”  Romans 6:8

The believer lives with Christ; sharing in His life which is a life lived to God – a holy life.  The believer has Christ at work stirring up holiness, constantly, continually; Christ is one who never sleeps, never needs rest, who can never lose track of where we are.  He is working within us continuously, trying to stir up holiness.

“The effect of His death is to destroy the power of sin, and the result of His living is the communication and preservation of divine life to all who are connected with Him.” Charles Hodge

Or as the Lord Jesus Christ puts it elsewhere, we are the branches and He is the vine.  If you cut the branches off from the trunk (the vine) they don’t live for very long; but as long as the branches are connected to that vine, they receive the sap, the nutrients, all which they need for growth and development.  We are connected to the Lord Jesus Christ in His resurrected life and we cannot be separated from Him.  This life can never be extinguished from the believer as Christ lives forever;

“knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
Romans 6:9,10

Christ died once and will not die again.  He voluntarily assumed the burden of paying the penalty for His people’s sin and that was fully accepted, fully paid, fully accomplished upon the cross.  Christ will never die again; (verse 9). He always lives to God (verse 10). The believer cannot be separated from the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul will tell us this at the end of Romans chapter 8.  So believers will always have Christ infusing a work of holiness in their lives.

Did you really know what you were committing yourself to when you became a Christian?  This was a one-time irreversible process.  You are linked with the Lord Jesus Christ; you can never be separated from Him.  This can never be undone.  It changes you for eternity.

It is because we have been accepted by God, declared innocent before Him and united to Him through faith that we can show holiness in our lives.  Far from giving a license for sin, if we are declared innocent by faith before God, the fruit of holiness in our lives resulting from our union with Christ is the proof that we had been accepted by God. The moment we are saved we are linked for all eternity to the Lord Jesus Christ – immersed, brought into Him. If you are born again; you are a new creation, you are remade; you are linked inseparably to the Lord Jesus Christ – you’re changed.  You cannot find satisfaction in the things in this world as you once did.  We can try, we can run; we can try and put God out, but there is no peace, because you’re different – you’re not of this world.

We Need to Live Out Our Union With Christ

When Paul states the two principles that promote holiness in the life of the believer he is majoring much on God’s sovereignty, what God has done in the life of the believer. But then wise pastor that he is, he calls his people to live out what God has done for them.

Do Not Let Sin Dominate You

“Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 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.”  Romans 6:11 – 13

This is a call to the mind and the will.  First the call to the mind, consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God, to share in His divine life.  Reckon that in your minds; know it, understand it, know what’s going on, understand the doctrine.  But Paul is also targeting the will. He makes a call to resist evil; as sin’s power over the believer is broken, you have a new ability to resist, to stand fast against sin.  Choose do to good; choose to live that holy life.

Consider the example of David.  Psalm 51 is David’s great psalm of repentance after his adultery with Bathsheba, and his attempt to cover that up with the murder of Uriah, her husband.  David was a man after God’s own heart and yet he let sin have dominion over him to his own great hurt.  God’s judgment on David’s adultery and murder was that the sword would not depart from David’s household.  The power of sin has been broken over the believer, the believer should not then resubmit themselves to that power. Meditate on that which is right and pure, not on that which is wrong.  Know that which Christ has done for you; choose what is right.

Because Grace Dominates You, Live Out a Holy Life

“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but grace.”  Romans 6:14

Paul will show in chapter 7 that as an unbeliever sin had the upper hand in his body, the sinful nature’s power had not yet broken.  As the unbeliever comes to God’s law, they are stimulated to sin all the more; the sinful nature is the dominating power in the unbeliever.  Paul has the theological argument in Romans chapter 7, but I could also say if somebody tells you not to do something, what is your immediate urge?  You want to do it.  He says to them, “You are not under law but under grace.”  The Holy Spirit is the dominating power in the believer; the power of sin has been broken.  They are moved to obedience when they come in to contact with God’s law.

“Grace dethrones sin. It destroys sin’s lordship and enables the believer to offer himself, and whatever pertains to him in loving service to God.” William Hendriksen

There’s something new in the believer – it’s God’s grace.  As they come to God’s law, they want to follow it, to understand it. We have a stronger master in God than in sin:

“What then?  Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?  Certainly not!  Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, that you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”
Romans 6:15,16

We submit ourselves to a power greater than us.  If we choose to sin, we put ourselves under sin’s power.  If we choose holiness, we put ourselves under God’s power.  The thought that God’s pardoning grace is an opportunity to sin is emphatically denied by Paul.  Believers must know that they are a slave to the one that they have offered themselves to, to the one they seek to obey. The believer has a stronger master in God and ultimately will show signs of righteousness. Charles Hodge describes the influence of sin as follows:

“The slave does not obey his own will but his master’s.  He is subject not for a time but for life.  He is under an influence which secures obedience; this is true in spiritual as in external relations.  He who serves sin is the slave of sin; he is under its power.  He cannot free himself from its dominion.  He may hate his bondage; his reason and conscience may protest against it.  His will may resist it but he is constrained to obedience.  This is the doctrine of our Lord has taught:  He that commits sin is the slave of sin.  This remains true although this service is to death; the wages of sin is death.” Charles Hodge

Many years ago, I was talking to a pastor of an inner city church when he said to me, “Have you noticed when people become Christians their wealth tends to increase?”  I asked, “What do you mean?” His reply was simple, “To begin with they tend to give up smoking which frees up a lot of income.  You then notice that their drinking is reduced or cut out, that frees up a lot of income.  People who might have been entrapped with gambling and enslaved by it, they get a new freedom from it; that frees up a lot of income.  They tend to work more diligently, that helps generate more income”. This illustrates the power of sin being broken over people’s lives.  They might want to rebel against the tyranny of sin.  They might see the destructive effects of drink or cigarettes or whatever enslaves them, but they cannot shake it off.  There is a power greater than themselves which is dominating them. But when it comes to the believer;

“What is true of sin is true of holiness.  He who by virtue of union with Christ is made obedient to God, becomes, as Paul says, a slave of obedience. Obedience (personified) is the master to whom he is now subject.  He is not only bound to obey, but he is made to obey in despite of the resistance of his still imperfectly sanctified nature – he cannot but obey. The point of analogy to which reference is here made is the certainty of the effect, and the constraining influence by which the effect is secured.” Charles Hodge

The believer is dominated by a power greater than themselves.  We can backslide for a time but if we are truly God’s, He will bring us back.  God will not let the believer find rest and peace in the world, so don’t try; you’re not going to get very far.

Paul is doing a marvelous balancing act between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.  God has broken the power of sin over the believer by uniting the believer with the Lord Jesus Christ. Being united with Christ in his death upon the cross breaks the power of sin in the believer. Being united with Christ in His resurrected life means the believer has an eternal influence promoting holiness in their lives that will never stop, rest, or be taken away from them – the sovereignty of God.  At the same time, God calls out to His people, “Be aware, you still have a sinful nature.  If you sin, you are submitting yourself to that power.”  He’s calling them to shun sin and to pursue holiness – man’s responsibility.

“But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
Romans 6:17,18

In verse 17 that God’s people are described as being delivered to this teaching.  Paul does not state that they were delivered by the teaching which they received, but he says they were delivered to that teaching, emphasizing the power of God over their lives.  It is as if the whole chapter is a dance between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.

Learn From the Fruit of Sin’s Domination, and Look Forward the Fruit of Grace’s Dominion

“I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” Romans 6:19

Their weakness was not an intellectual one but a spiritual one; as believers, we still have the sinful nature.  The master and slave relationship illustrates it well.  Part of what we can do to help ourselves to choose that which is right and live out that which God has given for us, is to look back and remember the shame:

“What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed?  For the end of those things is death.”  Romans 6:21

We can look back on the things that we used to engage in are ashamed of – fights, arguments, jealousy, lust, lying, stealing, adultery, fornication.  We can look back and remember but also look forward and look at the eternal life that God has for us:

“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:22,23

Formerly, they had bondage to sin, now they have freedom from it.  They used to be slaves to sin, now they are servants of God.  Formerly, there was vice, now there is holiness.  Formerly there was shame, now there is peace of mind.  Formerly there was death – eternal death, hell fire waiting for all eternity – now there is life – everlasting life with the Lord Jesus Christ, being in His presence. Believers will have their own glorious bodies at the resurrection, there will be nothing to hinder fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  As believers we will be close to somebody who loved us so much, He would die for us upon the cross.  We will be close to somebody who is morally perfect and worthy of all worship and praise. This is waiting for us, and it will be more thrilling and exciting than anything we have known in this world.

Union with Christ accomplishes what all our legalistic efforts failed to secure, it gives us holiness and eternal life. The gospel is not a license to sin, it’s actually the only way believers can live out the holiness that God wants. May God help us to live out this glorious truth in our lives.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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