Dead to Sin (Rom. 6:1-14)

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When I began this series, I tried to lay out a general outline for the book.  It goes like this: chapters 1-4, the exposition of the gospel; chapters 5-11, the implications of the gospel; chapters 12-16, the application of the gospel.  Now each of these larger sections have subsections.  So, in chapters 1-4, we saw that chapter 1:1-15 is the introduction, followed by the thesis statement in 1:16-17.  This then is followed by the reason we need the gospel, which is human rebellion and sinfulness, and Paul lays out the case for that in 1:18-3:20.  Then in 3:21-4:25, Paul gives us what is probably the clearest and most systematic exposition of the gospel in the whole of Scripture, in terms of justification by faith in Christ.

Now in chapter 6 we are in the section of the letter where the apostle is unpacking the implications of the gospel of grace through faith in Christ.  We have seen that the theme of chapter 5 is the assurance of our salvation.  I would argue that this is the overall theme in chapters 5-8.  Now the question is, how does chapter 6 tie into the overall theme?  

It clearly does tie in, doesn’t it?  This is a new section, but it isn’t unrelated.  Paul begins by raising a question which he anticipates will come in response to the statements of the previous verses.  In those verses, Paul had written: “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:20-21).  In this statement, Paul sees two possible sources for confusion that could lead to real distortions of the gospel. The first distortion has to do with grace, and the second with the law.  In those two verses, Paul had argued that the law entered that sin might abound, but where sin abounded grace did much more abound.  Paul realizes that someone might hear that and think that the law itself is sinful.  Paul will deal with this distortion in chapter 7, where he will teach us about the role of the law in the life of the Christian.  But the other distortion is that since grace abounds where sin abounds, then grace is most magnified when I sin the most.  This is the distortion that Paul is now going to deal with here in chapter 6.

And so that brings us to the question that Paul anticipates here at the opening of chapter 6: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”  You see how this relates to the previous two verses.  This is the distortion of grace.  It argues that the doctrines of grace make the commission of sin more acceptable, and in fact, necessary.  

Now there are two kinds of people who will ask this question.  One is the kind of person who doesn’t like the gospel of grace and uses this objection to resist its appeal.  Paul has obviously heard this objection many times in his ministry.  It shows us that if we are preaching the grace of God clearly, some people are going to misunderstand it in this way.  If you are a works-based preacher, no one is going to raise this objection, are they?  But if you preach that we are saved, not on the basis of works at all and that our works don’t move us even a millimeter closer to God but that we are saved from beginning to end on the basis of grace, then people will hear that and say that it doesn’t matter how you live.  So in some sense this objection is a measure of how clearly we are preaching the gospel of grace!  Will people hear what you are saying and ask this question?  It is a test.

But there is another person who asks this question, and it isn’t someone who is objecting to the gospel, but the person who hears the message of grace and likes it.  However, this person wants to use it as a cover for their sin.  The apostle Jude speaks of people like this when he writes of “ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).  This is the person who is all about grace because they think that now they don’t have to repent of their sins.  They think that they can have Jesus and their sin too.

Now regardless of whether a person is asking this question to object to the gospel or to use the gospel as a refuge for their sins, the apostle sees this as a question that needs to be answered.  As we look at the apostle’s answer, we are going to discover some amazing Biblical teaching on the nature of sanctification and how it happens.  In fact, I think this chapter in particular is one of the most important chapters on the nature of sanctification in the life of the Christian.  

This chapter is basically divided into two parts.  In verses 1-14, Paul answers the question, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” in terms of life and death.  You will notice that Paul then basically restates the question in verse 15, and so his answer in verses 15-23 parallels that in 1-14, although this time he answers the question in terms slavery and freedom.  Today, I want us to see the fundamental reality that Paul points to in the first few verses of this chapter, and how that must define the way we think of ourselves as belonging to Christ.

And the fundamental reality is this: the Christian is someone who has died to sin. Paul’s answer to the question, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” is: “God forbid.  How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (6:1-2).  You will notice that Paul’s answer is practically one of shock.  He does not even consider it a possibility for this to happen.  It is unthinkable, according to Paul, for the Chrisitan to continue in sin.  The “we” here are Christians, those who are baptized (6:3).  Perhaps even more importantly, the “we” here are all who are saved by the righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord (5:21).  Paul is not just talking about who should make up the church but who the saved are.  The saved are those who died to sin.  

It is so important that we understand this, and what it means, and I want to spend some time with you this morning doing just that.  It is important because if don’t understand it, we are going to have wrong expectations, either for ourselves or for others.  We won’t be able to appreciate the commands that come in verses 11-14.  We will either tend to be superficial in our Christian walk because we have really not grappled with the reality of our death to sin, or we will be discouraged in our Christian walk because we don’t appreciate the new reality into which we are delivered by our death to sin.  It is a misunderstanding of this reality that has led to numerous confusions about sanctification and the Christian walk.  So: what does it mean to be dead to sin?  As we look especially at the first half of this chapter this morning, I want to think about it with you in terms of the questions What? and Why? What does it mean to be dead to sin?  And why are we dead to sin?  

Before we begin, however, I must preface my remarks with the observation from this passage that doctrine really does matter, and that what we know and what we believe must affect how we live.  Notice that throughout these verses, Paul constantly appeals to what they know.  In verse 3, “Know ye not?”  In other words, if you know this, you won’t make the mistake of thinking that a Christian can live in sin.  Then in verse 6, he writes, “Knowing this…” again pointing his readers to something they know as the basis of his instruction to them.  He can say what he is saying because they know something.  Then in verse 8, “we believe,” as an article of faith that Christ is risen from the dead, which again serves also to advance his argument.  In verse 9, we see “knowing” again and then in verse 11, he tells us to “reckon” or “consider” something about ourselves.  In other words, think!  All this points to the folly of those who just want to be told what to do.  “Give me something practical,” they say.  And what I would say back, and what I think the apostle Paul would also say, is that you won’t be able to sustain the lifestyle that Christ expects and demands of us if we aren’t familiar with its truths.  Doctrine is always at the back of duty in the NT.  It should be the same with us.  So my purpose in this message is to help us know some things, so that we will be in the position and place to do and live for the glory of God and the good of others.  Let’s know what it means to die to sin.  And let’s know why we are dead to sin.  

What it means to be dead to sin

Here is what Paul does in this chapter.  First of all, he asks the question, “What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (1).  This is followed by his emphatic denial: “God forbid,” which literally translated reads, “May it never be!” (2).  Then Paul explains why this is impossible.  It is impossible because, as he puts it, “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (2).  Notice that Paul doesn’t deny that grace abounds where sin abounds.  That’s not the point of his denial.  His denial is that it is impossible for those who are the recipients of grace to go on living in sin.  And that is what in the following verses he is going to labor to argue for.

His argument centers around the doctrine of our union with Christ.  I will say more about that in a minute, when we get to the why question, but for now, I just want you to see it.  We are baptized into Christ, that is, into union with him (3).  We are buried with him (4).  We are planted together with him, or united with him, in the likeness of his death and life (5).  We are crucified with him (6).  We are dead with Christ (8), and we are alive unto God through or in Jesus Christ our Lord (11).   All this is the language of union with Christ, and it is at the heart of Paul’s argument here.  He is basically arguing that our union with Christ makes it impossible that we should go on living in sin.

I think one way to get at the heart of Paul’s argument in these verses is to think in terms of a conversation between Paul and an interlocutor.  It begins by someone asking the apostle, “Why can’t we continue in sin?”  That’s verse 1. To which Paul answers: “We can’t because we have died to sin.”  That’s verse 2.  The questioner continues: “But how do you know that we have died to sin?”  To which Paul answers, “Because we are united to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection, which was symbolized in our baptisms.”  That’s verses 3-5. Finally, the questioner asks: “But why does union with Christ mean we have died to sin?”  And Paul answers, in verses 6-10, “Because that’s what union with Christ does.  It causes us to die to sin and live to righteousness.”  It is on the basis of this truth then that the apostle goes on to apply it all to us in verses 11-14, where we are exhorted to consider ourselves dead to sin, to prevent sin from dominating us, and to present our bodies as instruments in the Redeemer’s hands.

So we can see that everything Paul is doing here is to explain and defend his primary statement here in verse 2 that the Christian is someone who has died to sin.  Which means that we need to understand what he means by that.  What does it mean to be dead to sin?

First of all, it is something which happens at the beginning of the Christian life.  To die to sin, in the sense in which Paul puts it here, is part of what happens to us when we are called by God and the gospel, to faith in Christ.  We see this when we think about who the “we” are of verses 1 and 2.  “Shall we continue in sin?”  “How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer in it?”  Who are the “we” there?  Well, they are precisely the same people Paul has been talking about in the previous chapter.  In other words, these are those who are no longer in Adam but in Christ.  They are those who are no longer under the reign of sin but under the reign of grace.  This is a description of the Chrisitan from the very beginning of the Christian life.  Christians don’t come into the reign of grace at some point after they are saved; it is sovereign grace by which we are saved in the first place (cf. Eph. 2:8-9).  

Paul also assumes that everyone who is dead to sin is also a baptized person.  Baptism is something that, in the NT anyway, happens as part of the conversion process.  It is the physical representation of the spiritual reality of conversion to Christ.  Again, this points to the fact that it is something that happens at the beginning of the life of faith.

It is also a definitive act.  What do I mean by that?  I mean that this is not a process that grows over the course of our lives as followers of Christ.  We see this in the verb that Paul uses in verse 2.  “We that are dead to sin” is something that has happened to us; it is not something that is happening.  Some versions translate verse 2 as, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”  That is a good and accurate translation.  Now there is a sense in which we are dying to sin, in the sense of the ongoing mortification of sin in our lives (cf. Rom. 8:13).  But I want to stress that this is not what the apostle is talking about here.  In some sense, this definitive death to sin at the very beginning of our faith in Christ is the basis of our ongoing killing of particular sins.  We have died to sin which enables us now to crucify pride and the lusts of the flesh and other sins.

That it is definitive is also seen by what Paul says in verse 10.  You will notice that there he says concerning our Lord: “in that he died, he died unto sin once.”  Christ died to sin once; this is not an ongoing thing, and the apostle’s argument is that this is true of all who are united to Christ.

It is a lifechanging act, something that changes the course of our lives, from the service to sin to serving Christ.  What does dying to sin accomplish in our lives?  Well, it is described by Paul in verse 6 in terms of our old man being crucified with Christ.  The “old man” in the NT is the life we live before our regeneration and conversion.  It is what is behind the apostle’s statement in 2 Cor. 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”  To die to sin is referring then to that definitive change that makes us into new men and women at the very beginning of the Chrisitan life when we are born again.  

In particular, it means that we are walking in newness of life (4).  It means that we are no longer serving sin (6, 9, 14).  It means that we are living for God (10-11).  It means that we are in a fundamentally different position than we were before we were born again.  It means that we aren’t like those folks about which Paul advised Timothy, who are in “the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Tim. 2:26).  It means we can resist the devil, and he will flee from us (Jam. 4:7).  Or, to put it in terms of the original objection: it means that we are no longer continuing in sin!

Now we aren’t saying that every Christian is without sin.  That is not what dying to sin means.  it does mean that we are no longer under the power and dominion of sin.  To use Bunyan’s imagery from his book The Holy War, it means that Satan has been cast off the throne of our hearts and Christ now reigns there.  But Satan is still outside the walls of our hearts, shooting arrows inside.  He can still do damage, and we must not forget that.  But he no longer has the power over our lives.  He no longer rules over us.  We are no longer his slaves; we are the servants of Christ alone.

How the Christian is dead to sin

The Christian has died to sin because the Christian is united to Christ.  We pointed out earlier the centrality of this reality in the text.  It’s what we bear witness to in our baptism (3-4).  

Our union with Christ is a spiritual union.  What I mean by that is that Christ dwells in us through the Holy Spirit. Our Lord promised this to his disciples before he died: “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (Jn. 14:16-18).  In other words, the Spriit is the one who mediates the presence of the risen Christ.  The benefits of our Lord’s redemption are applied to us by the Holy Spirit.  It is this ongoing reality that Paul is referring to here in Romans 6.  The Spirit of Christ raises us from a death in sin so that we can die to sin.  

Notice that our union to Christ is spoken of in terms of our union with Christ in his death and resurrection.  Paul is laboring throughout this passage to say that they are connected, and that you cannot be united to Christ in the benefits of his death if you are not also united in the benefits of his resurrection.  Our union with Christ in his death is inseparable from our union with Christ in his resurrection.  

This is his argument in verses 4 and following.  We have been baptized into our Lord’s death and burial – “even so we also should walk in newness of life” (4).  The one happens in order that the other also should happen.  Verse 5: if we have union with Christ in his death, we will also have union with Christin his resurrection life.  Verse 8: if we are dead with Christ we will also live with him, because, as he puts it in verses 9-10, we are just following the pattern of our Lord. It is unthinkable to imagine our Lord dying and staying dead.  He died to rise again.  Even so, Paul is saying, if we are united to Christ, we must be united to him in both his death and his resurrection.

And that means that we will die to sin (corresponding to our union with Christ in his death) and we will walk in newness of life (corresponded to our union with Christ in his life).  Our old man is crucified with Christ because we are united to Christ in his death and therefore we don’t serve sin, which stated positively means that we are servants of Christ because we are united to Christ in his resurrection life (6).

Our union with Christ is also irreversible.  That is to say, those who have died to sin can’t go back to their previous state.  It’s not a repeatable process because it only happens once and it takes once it happens.  Christ having died, dies no more because death no longer has dromion over him (9).  He died to sin once (10).  Of course, don’t miss Paul’s point here: he is speaking in terms of our union with Christ.  If Christ died to sin once, this is true of all who are united to him in his death.  If he ever lives unto God this is also true of all who belong to Christ.

Believer, it is important for you to realize this because you need to understand that the power for a life of obedience is not found in your own resources, your wisdom, your strength, your willpower, but in the power of Christ.  And your connection to Christ is not like the battery power of your phone that drains out over time and has to be plugged up again and again because if you are united to Christ it’s like being connected to the power source 24/7.  You can never be unplugged.

Listen to how the apostle Paul puts it to the Ephesians.  He says to us that he wants us to know “what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:19-20).  Do you believe in Christ?  Then you have access to the exceeding greatness of God’s power, the very same power that raised up our Lord from the dead!  Believer, you have resurrection power in you!  Or, as the apostle will put it later, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us” (Eph. 3:20).  That power that is at work in us is “able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.”  What an amazing reality!

So we die to sin because we are united to Christ by the work of the Spirit in the heart.  But the Holy Spirit does this by working faith in us.  He unites us to Christ by faith.  Yes, the work of the Spirit is effectual and precedes any action on our part, but the Spirit does what he does in order to bring about the response of faith.

Notice how Paul puts it to the Colossians.  He writes that we are “buried with him [Christ] in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead” (Col. 2:12).  Paul is saying the same thing here that he said to the Romans.  We are buried with Christ in baptism, and we are risen with him.  Again, you have our union with Christ in his death and resurrection.  But notice how God raises us from to newness of life: it is “through the faith of the operation of God.”  Now faith is the work of God – it is the operation of God.  But it is through the instrumentality of faith that God’s people are risen to newness of life.  As Paul will say to the Galatians, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

In other words, how can a person be united to Christ?  We are united to Christ through faith, faith in Christ, faith which is the work of the Spirit of God in us (cf. Eph. 2:8).  I think it’s important to say this because though the Spirit blows where he wills (Jn. 3:8), and we can’t control the movement of the Spirit, I am accountable to put my faith in Christ.  Where is your faith?  My friend, the realities Paul speaks of here in Romans 6 can only be true of you if your faith is in Jesus.  Not in yourself.  Not in your goodness.  Not in the strength of your will.  But in Christ alone.  Put your trust in him!

This is the way the Christian life begins.  It begins through faith in the operation of God.  But it doesn’t stop there, does it?  It is lived out in faith.  This is not to say that we are passive as if we are just waiting for something to happen to us.  Faith is a very active thing.  Faith moves mountains.  Faith conquers kingdoms.  Faith stops the mouths of lions.  Just read the faith chapter of Hebrews 11.  But we do what we do, not in the strength of our own flesh, but in the strength which God provides.

Believer, you have died to sin because you are united to Christ.  That is the truth of Romans 6.  You need to know this and to live your life in light of it.  You are, as Paul puts it in verse 11, to reckon yourself, to consider or think of yourself as one who is dead indeed unto sin but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  And on that basis we don’t let sin reign in our mortal bodies that we should obey it in its lusts.  “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (14).