Romans 6:8-14 (NIV)
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
This section of Paul’s letter draws the logical conclusions of the previous section and ties it back to the conclusions of chapter 4.
In the previous section (6:1-7), Paul finished with the insight that in our salvation we died with Jesus and rose again to new life, symbolized by our baptism. And if we died in that act, we died to sin’s power and death’s authority. Now Paul turns his attention to the new life we receive in Jesus.
When Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, the life He received was eternal. Unlike those He raised form the dead during His ministry, He would never die again, but would live forever.
In the same way, when we cross over from death to life through faith in Jesus, the life we receive is eternal. Those who believe in Jesus will never experience death. Our bodies may die, but we will not experience that death – our spirits will go on living without missing a beat (John 11:25-26).
And this life goes much further than merely outstripping physical death. It also means that we can have victory over sin in Jesus that lasts our whole life here, and that bears us to God’s throne, where the testimony of our victory will bring eternal glory to Jesus.
But this only works if we understand it and determine to walk in the victory that is our birthright in Jesus. We must determine to walk every minute of every day in relationship with Him, refusing to allow any part of ourselves to be used by sin, refusing to compromise in any area, but instead, to surrender our whole self to God through Jesus, to be used as instruments of righteousness and a channel through which His power can operate freely.
The last half of the final verse is often quoted to foster a kind of antinomianism – a belief that, since we are not under the law but under grace, it doesn’t matter how we live, but that God’s grace will cover whatever sins are committed. But the context of the whole sentence as well as the context of this whole section carries a completely different meaning, a completely opposite meaning.
What Paul is saying ,very simply and very clearly, is that since we, as new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), are not operating under the rule of an impotent and external law, but under the powerful internal guidance of God’s grace, there is no reason for sin to have any power in our lives. As one who has been raised from the dead in power, we have been given victory over both sin and death, a victory that must be, and can be, lived out in genuine holiness and righteousness every moment of every day.
Father, this is so very different than what so many of Your people have been taught – so much more powerful, so much more hopeful, and so much more full of light than the concept that even though saved, we must still be victims of sin ruling over us. Help me to not only believe what You have caused to be written in these Scriptures, but to live it out every moment of every day, starting today, so that You are glorified though the complete victory that You work in my life. Amen.