Romans 6:1-7 (NIV)
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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.
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Paul knew the sinful, deceitful heart of the people of the world, and how they tend to distort words and twist concepts that they cannot grasp because of the spiritual darkness they live in. He knew that many would read his statement that grace rises to meet and dispel sin and could then twist his words to accuse him of claiming that people should sin more so that more grace would rise up.
But Paul answers those accusers with the strongest possible negative that Greek possesses. He then explains that when we surrender to Jesus, when we repent and are baptized in His name, we die to sin, turning away from the darkness and committing ourselves to living in His light. This is richly symbolized in the baptism ritual. So, if we have died to sin, how can we possibly continue to live in it? It is illogical, impossible!
Turning away from sin and turning to Jesus instead results in much more than a change of status before God. It brings about a change of state, a death to the old life and the old way of living. It transfers a person from the kingdom of the world to the kingdom of God. It raises a person up from the state of being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive and able to see and understand the truth, to discern what is God’s will and what is sin, and the power of the Holy Spirit to walk in that understanding by consistently choosing God’s will.
Again, when a person is born again, they first die to their old life, and sin has no power over a dead person. Far from excusing sin or advocating for it, Paul is sharing the “secret” to the victory over sin that uniquely belongs to the people of the kingdom, a victory that was won by Jesus on the cross, and is freely given to those who die with Him to this world, and who then live every moment of their lives in Him (Galatians 2:20).
Father, Paul is so clear, so passionate about the victory over sin that Jesus bought for us that it is difficult to see how some can read this and believe that living in sin is still to be the norm for Your people. If we have truly died with Jesus, if we truly live the resurrection life that He made possible, then sin need not have any power over us, and we truly can be empowered by Your Spirit living in us to live a genuinely holy life. Thank You for this victory that is ours in Christ Jesus! Amen.