Romans - Lesson 6

Text

C. The righteousness of God in perfection “fruit unto sanctification” 6:1-8:39

1. The one who is justified is dead to sin and alive to God 6:1-14

Chapter 6

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?

2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized¹ into His death?

4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,

6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;

7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master 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.

11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts,

13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

2. The one who is justified is free from sin 6:15-23

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!

16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,

18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.

22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Thought questions for chapter 6

1. What comes to mind when you think of the term “doctrine”?

An absolute teaching.

2. How would you explain the relationship between baptism and faith?

“We have become united with Him in the likeness of his death. Vss 5

3. In verses 15-18, Paul refers to two different kinds of slavery; is it possible to participate in both at once?

Slavery to sin or Christ (God) No.

4. What does this chapter teach about Satan and the power of sin?

Obedience to sin is disobedience to God. This is Satan’s position.

e. If our old self has been crucified with Christ, why do we still sin? See 1Jn 1:8

Because we are human. We sin for a variety of reasons, some of which are: 1.Lack of knowledge 2.Lack of will-power 3.Evil companions 4.Temptation

f. What is the importance of the contrast of death and life in this chapter?

Death is obedience to sin, life is obedience to the teaching of righteousness. Our death to sin becomes like that of Christ’s submission to the righteousness of God the Father.

g. What is the result of obeying sin? See vs. 16

Death

For Further thought

How can you see different aspects of God’s character in this chapter?

1. Perfection – vs 9 “Never to die again” 2. Greatness: Grace is greater than sin vs 14

3. Holiness vs 22 Sanctification 4. Eternality v22 eternal life

5. Forthrightness – free vs. 23

What does Paul want us to understand about Jesus in this chapter?

1. vss 4-5, 8, 23 Christ brings life.
2. 2. Christ died once, for all vs 10

How would we explain (briefly)

1. Dead to sin?

We no longer willingly serve sin.

2. Baptized into his death?

Immerced into his commitment.

3. Walk in newness of life?

Live God’s way

4. Old man is crucified?

Put to death the deeds of the body.

5. Body of sin?

Life given over to sin.

What is sanctification? How is our initial sanctification different from our ongoing purification?

Sanctification is the separation of sin that a Christian lives by, both initially and as a life-style.

The Christian walk

1. New life Rom 6:4; 8:1

2. Faith 2Cor 5:7

3. Spiritual Gal 5:16

4. Lofty Eph 4:1

5. Love Eph 4:2

6. Wisdom Eph 5:15; Col 2:16

7. Light 1 Jn 1:7

8. As Christ walked 1 Jn 2:6

Sin

Problem

1. Sin results in Death 1:32; 5:12, 14; 6:16; 7:5, 10, 13

2. Flesh is death 8:6, 13

3. In death sin reigns 5:21

4. Death through Adam 5:17; 6:23; 8:38, 39

Cure

1. Life by the spirit 8:6, 13

2. Christ sets us free from the law 8:2

3. Obedience results in righteousness 6:16

4. Christ died to sin, once for all, lives to God 6:10

5. Christ, having died, is not subject to death 6:9

6. Baptism into Christ’s death, for our life 6:3, 4

7. In life through Christ, grace reigns 5:21

8. 8. Life is through Christ 5:17; 6:23; 8:38, 39
9. 9. Death through Jesus provides reconciliation

and salvation 5:10

Sanctification

1. The temple sanctifies the offering in it Matt 23:17

2. The father sanctifies Jn 10:36

3. Thy word is truth Jn 17:17

4. Jesus sanctifies Jn 17:19

5. Those sanctified are given an inheritance Ac 20:32; 26:18

6. Your body as a slave to righteousness, resulting in sanctification Ro 6:19

7. Free from sin, enslaved to God. Your benefit is sanctification Ro 6:22

8. Sanctified by the Holy Spirit Rom 15:16

9. Sanctified in Christ Jesus 1 Cor 1:2

10. In Christ Jesus, our sanctification 1 Cor 1:30

11. Washed, sanctified, justified 1 Cor 6:11

12. Unbelieving husband sanctified by the wife 1 Cor 7:14

13. Christ sanctifies the church Eph 5:26

14. The will of God 1 Thess 4:3

15. Spouse in sanctification 1 thess 4:4

16. God called us for sanctification 1 Thess 4:7

17. Sanctified entirely 1 Thess 5:23

18. Chosen for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit 2 Thess 2:13

19. Food sanctified 1 Tim 4:5

20. A cleansing 2 Tim 2:2

21. From the Father Heb 2:11

22. Sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus, once Heb 10:10

23. Sanctified by the blood of the covenant Heb 10:29

24. Can not see God without sanctification Heb 12:14

25. Jesus’ blood sanctifies Heb 13:12

26. Sanctifying work of the Spirit 1 Pet 1:2

27. Christ sanctified in our hearts 1 Pet 3:15

By way of illustration

He who does not forbid sin when he can, encourages it.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca (C. 4 B.C.-A.D. 65)

Her rash hand in evil hour

Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she eat:

Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat,

Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe

That all was lost.

John Milton (1608-1674)

When Leonardo da Vinci was painting his masterpiece The Last Supper, he sought long for a model for his Christ. At last he located a chorister in one of the churches of Rome who was lovely in life and features, a young man named Pietro Bandinelli.

Years passed, and the painting was still unfinished. All the disciples had been portrayed save one -- Judas Iscariot. Now he started to find a man whose face was hardened and distorted by sin -- and at last he found a beggar on the streets of Rome with a face so villainous; he shuddered when he looked at him. He hired the man to sit for him as he painted the face of Judas on his canvas. When he was about to dismiss the man, he said, "I have not yet found out your name." "I am Pietro Bandinelli," he replied, "I also sat for you as your model of Christ."

• Indian Christian

The Sunday school teacher asked her class: "What are sins of omission? After some thought one little fellow said, "They're the sins we should have committed but didn't get around to."

--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 457.

A large prosperous downtown church had three mission churches under its care that it had started. On the first Sunday of the New Year all the members of the mission churches came to the city church for a combined Communion service. In those mission churches, which were located in the slums of the city, were some outstanding cases of conversions--thieves, burglars, and so on--but all knelt side by side at the Communion rail. On one such occasion the pastor saw a former burglar kneeling beside a judge of the Supreme Court of England--the judge who had sent him to jail where he had served seven years. After his release this burglar had been converted and become a Christian worker. Yet, as they knelt there, the judge and the former convict, neither one seemed to be aware of the other.

After the service, the judge was walking home with the pastor and said to the pastor, "Did you notice who was kneeling beside me at the Communion rail this morning?"

The pastor replied, "Yes, but I didn't know that you noticed." The two walked along in silence for a few more moments, and then the judge said, "What a miracle of grace." The pastor nodded in agreement. "Yes, what a marvelous miracle of grace." Then the judge said "But to whom do you refer?" And the pastor said, "Why, to the conversion of that convict." The judge said, "But I was not referring to him. I was thinking of myself" The pastor, surprised, replied, "You were thinking of yourself? I don't understand." "Yes," the judge replied, "it did not cost that burglar much to get converted when he came out of jail. He had nothing but a history of crime behind him, and when he saw Jesus as his Savior he knew there was salvation and hope and joy for him. And he knew how much he needed that help. But look at me. I was taught from earliest infancy to live as a gentleman; that my word was to be my bond; that I was to say my prayers, go to church, take Communion and so on. I went through Oxford, took my degrees, was called to the bar and eventually became a judge. Pastor, nothing but the grace of God could have caused me to admit that I was a sinner on a level with that burglar. It took much more grace to forgive me for all my pride and self-deception, to get me to admit that I was no better in the eyes of God than that convict that I had sent to prison.

--James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 257.

When the great Chrysostom was arrested by the Roman emperor he sought to make the Greek Christian deny his faith. But he was unsuccessful. So the emperor discussed with his advisors what they could do to this prisoner.

"Shall I put him in a dungeon?" the emperor asked. "No," one of his counsellors replied, "For he'll be glad to go. He longs for the quietness where he can delight in the mercies of his God."

"Then he shall be executed!" said the emperor. "No," came the answer, "For he'll be glad to die. He declares that in the event of death, he will be in the presence of the Lord."

"Well, what shall we do then?" the ruler asked. The counselor replied, "There's only one thing that will cause him pain. Make him sin. He's afraid of nothing but sin."

1 Baptism

1. Referred to as:

A burial Rom 6:3-5; Col 2:12

A uniting Rom 6:5

A washing Acts 22:16

A birth Jn 3:5

2. Requires:

Water Acts 10:47

Much water Jn 3:23

Going into the water Acts 8:36-38; Matt 3:5-6

A rising out of the water Col 2:12; Acts 8:39

Penitence Mk 16:16; Acts 2:28-41; 8:12-37; 18:8

3. What it does:

Washes away sins Acts 22:16

Saves us 1 Pet 3:21; Mk 16:16

Gets us into Jesus Gal 3:26-27

Gets us into the church Acts 2:37-47

Puts on Christ Gal 3:27

Walk in newness of life Rom 6:3-5

4. How accomplished
5. Matt 3:16; Acts 2:38-39; Rom 6:4; Col 2:12; Heb 10:32