-8-
Walking with God
Romans 6
Ro 6:1 ¶ What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning, so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Up to this point Paul has wonderfully explained the basis for our eternal life. Being born into the right family or race (i.e. the Jewish race) did not automatically give a person eternal life. Having the physical mark of circumcision did not produce eternal life. Being a good person, as the average non-Jewish person might assume, did not produce eternal life1 (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25). And we ended up with the realization that we are standing on God's grace – a platform called God's favor. Paul has presented it in such a way as we cannot help but rejoice in the fact that we are declared totally innocent. How marvelous, how wonderful … because of Jesus' love for me I am clean … I am His! I am standing on a secure foundation. We have just referred to this platform as being favor or grace, but we can refer to it as Jesus Himself. Paul said to the Corinthians, For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:11 ¶
As we stand upon this foundation, how secure are we? Let's jump ahead to Ro 8:35-37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Verse 1 mentions that we died to sin. Colossians 3:3,4 adds this, For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Nothing can remove us from the foundation.
In this chapter we are now moving on to a different topic. We are moving on from our 'STANDING' to our 'WALK'.
I am going to insert an incident that occurred on the evening of the Last Supper that Jesus had with His disciples. It is found in John 13:1-15.
The Passover, and then the Lord's Supper being over … Judas has left the group, leaving just the eleven in the room with Jesus. Jesus stands up, removes his cloak and wraps a towel around himself, takes a basin of water and proceeds to act like a servant; he begins to wash their feet. As He progresses from one disciple to another, he comes to Peter, who exclaims, “You will NEVER wash MY feet!”
Where did that come from? Peter is thinking … 'This is my Lord! If I let Him wash my feet, I will be seeing Him as a servant. He is NOT a lowly servant. He is Jesus my Lord!'
Jesus surprises Peter with this statement: “If I do not wash you … you will have no share (no part; no partnership) with me”
At this point Peter is saying, “Really? In that case, not just my feet, … give me a total bath! … Because being connected to you is EVERYTHING!”
Jesus makes a very important statement to Peter. He says, “Any one who has once been washed by Me, from then on only needs to have his feet washed.”
So how does all that fit with this study in Romans? Well, normal human 'cleanliness' back in the day of Peter consisted of baths as needed, but of many foot-washings. At that time people mostly wore sandals, I would think that many also went barefoot. Transportation in those days was mostly walking on dusty roads. Foot-washing was at least a daily thing, and perhaps several times a day. That is what happens when you walk on dirty roads … your feet get dirty.
What about our 'walk' in the world. I don't mean our literal walk from our house to our car .. from our car to the supermarket and back to the car. No, I am talking about our day to day lives. Have we walked with God today? Have we walked without God today? A little of both? When we walk without God, we are walking 'in the world'. Our thinking is like the world, to some degree. We are possessed with thoughts that are centered on our own wisdom. Are we smart enough with our investments? Are we eating to live longer lives? Are we comparing our standard of living … our house, our car, our …. etc. with what others around us have?
When we walk in the 'normal' wisdom of the world, we pick up a lot of dirt on our feet. Sin, actually. So our walk must be a walk of faith and trust in Him. We often quote and even sing these words:
Mt 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
But if our concerns continue to be, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Mt 6:31 , we are getting our feet dirty … we are picking up sin as we walk the Christian walk. So we need our feet washed. We need regular cleansing from Jesus. Not a bath … we had that at salvation. But we need our spiritual feet washed often. John said this is how we keep our feet clean … If we walk in the light as he is the light we have fellowship with Him and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all the sin we pick along the way (1John 1:7).
Paul gave us a concept at the close of chapter 5. Here it is:
Ro 5:20 … where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
But Paul tells us that there were critics in his life who, as he put it, “Slanderously report that I am saying - 'Let us do evil that good may result'?” Ro 3:8. But here he says;
Ro 6:2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
So technically speaking … We could sin all we want and really appreciate God's forgiveness over and over again. We could be heard saying again and again … “Wow! It sure feels good to be clean!” (Or in the previous analogy of Jesus … “Jesus, just keep washing my feet. It feels so refreshing and good. I could enjoy this twenty times a day!”)
But Jesus is lovingly telling us, “Children, I would like you to stop playing in the dirt. I will wash your feet as needed, but please don't head for the nearest mud puddle.”
This discussion gets a whole lot more serious in the next verses.
Ro 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
As Paul goes a little 'deeper' into the reasons why our 'walk' should be as clean as possible, he uses the word 'baptism'. Did you know that there are at least two kinds of baptism? One is baptism with or in water. Another is baptism in the Spirit. Which one is Paul talking about here and how can we know for sure? Actually scripture addresses this.
First of all, look at this one: Eph 4:4a There is ….5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
That verse just corrects what I said … there are not two kinds of baptism … only one. But there is what we might call 'actual baptism' and 'symbolic baptism'.
What is 'actual' baptism? By that term I mean, something that 'actually' happens. We will address the next verse and comment a little further on this.
Ro 6:4 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.
Buried with Christ; Lets talk about what this is NOT. Obviously you did not live in another life two thousand years ago and die and get buried with Jesus in His tomb.
Is this is talking about commitment? Am I to 'consider my old life dead'? Is this speaking of being committed to living the life Jesus has for me?
There are other verses that are similar to Romans 6:4. For example:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Ga 2:20
You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.(Col 3.3)
… having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. Col 2:12
Is this a matter of 'frame of mind'? If it is, perhaps today I am committed to living in Jesus, but what if I slip from it tomorrow? This is only part of it. Yes, we must see ourselves, and consider ourselves as 'dead to sin' but this is only part of it. It goes much deeper than this. There was an 'actual' baptism. It was invisible and undetectable by you, nevertheless it was actual. When you first called out to Jesus to forgive your sin, something actual and real happened in the background. This verse in First Corinthians says it well.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body … Notice in this verse two words … Spirit and baptized. We know there is only one baptism. This verse talks about the one actual baptism that put you into Jesus. And it was not water. It was the spirit. So there is only one actual baptism and that is Spirit Baptism. The very moment you repented of your sinful past and trusted Christ as the only one who could forgive you and save you from eternal death in Hell; the only one who could give you everlasting life … the moment you turned to Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit placed you into Jesus. That is the true and actual baptism. Water baptism is symbolic. It is a picture that we make with our bodies in the water. It is a picture of the actual baptism. By making the public picture when we go down into the water … we are proclaiming publicly that we have already been baptized by the Spirit into Jesus.
Ro 6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
To repeat and explain further, the Holy Spirit places us into Jesus … And looking backward in time … Jesus died and was buried … so we identify with that. Were we there at the time? Not literally but, yes, in spirit we were there. Whether we said this or not at the time we trusted Jesus for salvation, here is what we said: “Jesus, I died with You that day. My life without You was temporary and would have ended with me in Hell. So I put that life to death the moment I turned to you. You were crucified for me and I join You in that. My old life is dead and gone. I am in You now. I have been given new life, Your life. You were raised from the dead … and I am raised with You to live a new life.”
Ro 6:6 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. Ro 6:7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
So here is Paul's point. The 'body of sin' (our past life as a non-believer) is supposed to be done away with. This can be a struggle for some. It certainly was for the apostle Paul. We will not take time to talk about the struggle and why is exists until we get to chapter 7 (Romans 7:15-24)
Ro 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
Ro 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Jesus rose from the dead. He lives. He lives with purpose. He is seated at the right hand of God. He is preparing a place for us2(John 14:2) . He intercedes3 (Ro 8:34) for us. He is called our Mediator4 (I Timothy 2:5).
… and (so Paul reasons …) so should we.
Ro 6:11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have eternal life because of Jesus. We saw ourselves as having no hope in the world without Him. We confessed our sin to Him. We asked for forgiveness … and out of the miry clay He lifted us5. (Psalm 40:1-3). We now enjoy eternal life … life with purpose. Jesus intercedes for us … and has given us a ministry of intercession6 (I Timothy 2:1). Through the price Jesus paid for us, we have been 'reconciled' … and now He has given us a ministry of reconciliation7 (2 Corinthians 5:18).
Jesus is our 'high priest', and He has made us priests. We must function as priests .. whose work was always done in behalf of others.
Ro 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
With a ministry much the same as Jesus' own ministry, how can we even entertain the thought of living in sin, just so that we can enjoy being washed over and over again? It doesn't even make sense to 'sin that grace may abound'.
Ro 6:13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Paul is telling the Christians in Rome … and telling us, that a conscious decision and action must be taken by us. I don't think that this is a 'one-time' thing. I think this is something that we might have to say the first thing each day. And when we forget that we consciously offered every part of ourselves to God as we got up this morning ...we may have to repeat this at various points throughout the day.
...we are under grace. Grace is a teacher/trainer … Paul wrote to Titus, 2:11 ¶ ... the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
In this verse we see that
Grace caused that woman to express love. She did not go out from the presence of Jesus – right back to sinning like she did before, just so she could be forgiven all over again.
Ro 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
Paul now restates this another way. As powerful a motivator as grace/favor is, Paul knows that some of us, maybe most of us need to hear this from another angle. So now he talks to us about habits that we form.
Ro 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Ro 6:17 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.
Ro 6:18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Ro 6:19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
Ro 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Worldly living is a way of life. It becomes a part of a person. What happens when we come to Christ? Paul said in
2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
If we are honest, we will be asking ourselves … Has the old REALLY passed away? Is it gone? What was included in that? The reason we have to even ask this is significant. We KNOW that much of the old still remains, don't we?
This is not a bible quote, “Old habits die hard”. But that is what we are looking at here. The conscious decision to offer ourselves totally to Him means we need to analyze our old habits … and purposely change them. We can start analyzing as we consider the remaining verses:
Ro 6:21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
We hear this expression/question once in a while; “And how's that workin' for ya?” It kind of fits here. The old way of life before salvation … is something to be ashamed of. What did it get us? Death. So, why even consider living the same way now that we are saved? It does not make any sense. We need to think like a person who has been pardoned from death row.
Ro 6:22 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.
Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Coming up we are going to take a close look at the 'legal grip' that the law had on us. But is the law bad? Everything that Paul has been saying about the law and its inability save those who try to keep it, would have been receive quite well by the gentile believers in the church. But the Jewish believers could be feeling quite uncomfortable. Paul gives an incredibly wonderful description of the law in the following chapter.
1 Pr 14:12 ¶ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Pr 16:25 ¶ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
2 John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 Romans 8:34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
4 1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
5 Ps 40:1 ¶ « I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. 2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. 3 He has put a new song in my mouth — Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
6 I Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people
7 2Co 5:18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Up to this point Paul has wonderfully explained the basis for our eternal life. Being born into the right family or race (i.e. the Jewish race) did not automatically give a person eternal life. Having the physical mark of circumcision did not produce eternal life. Being a good person, as the average non-Jewish person might assume, did not produce eternal life1 (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25). And we ended up with the realization that we are standing on God's grace – a platform called God's favor. Paul has presented it in such a way as we cannot help but rejoice in the fact that we are declared totally innocent. How marvelous, how wonderful … because of Jesus' love for me I am clean … I am His! I am standing on a secure foundation. We have just referred to this platform as being favor or grace, but we can refer to it as Jesus Himself. Paul said to the Corinthians, For no-one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:11 ¶
As we stand upon this foundation, how secure are we? Let's jump ahead to Ro 8:35-37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Verse 1 mentions that we died to sin. Colossians 3:3,4 adds this, For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Nothing can remove us from the foundation.
In this chapter we are now moving on to a different topic. We are moving on from our 'STANDING' to our 'WALK'.
I am going to insert an incident that occurred on the evening of the Last Supper that Jesus had with His disciples. It is found in John 13:1-15.
The Passover, and then the Lord's Supper being over … Judas has left the group, leaving just the eleven in the room with Jesus. Jesus stands up, removes his cloak and wraps a towel around himself, takes a basin of water and proceeds to act like a servant; he begins to wash their feet. As He progresses from one disciple to another, he comes to Peter, who exclaims, “You will NEVER wash MY feet!”
Where did that come from? Peter is thinking … 'This is my Lord! If I let Him wash my feet, I will be seeing Him as a servant. He is NOT a lowly servant. He is Jesus my Lord!'
Jesus surprises Peter with this statement: “If I do not wash you … you will have no share (no part; no partnership) with me”
At this point Peter is saying, “Really? In that case, not just my feet, … give me a total bath! … Because being connected to you is EVERYTHING!”
Jesus makes a very important statement to Peter. He says, “Any one who has once been washed by Me, from then on only needs to have his feet washed.”
So how does all that fit with this study in Romans? Well, normal human 'cleanliness' back in the day of Peter consisted of baths as needed, but of many foot-washings. At that time people mostly wore sandals, I would think that many also went barefoot. Transportation in those days was mostly walking on dusty roads. Foot-washing was at least a daily thing, and perhaps several times a day. That is what happens when you walk on dirty roads … your feet get dirty.
What about our 'walk' in the world. I don't mean our literal walk from our house to our car .. from our car to the supermarket and back to the car. No, I am talking about our day to day lives. Have we walked with God today? Have we walked without God today? A little of both? When we walk without God, we are walking 'in the world'. Our thinking is like the world, to some degree. We are possessed with thoughts that are centered on our own wisdom. Are we smart enough with our investments? Are we eating to live longer lives? Are we comparing our standard of living … our house, our car, our …. etc. with what others around us have?
When we walk in the 'normal' wisdom of the world, we pick up a lot of dirt on our feet. Sin, actually. So our walk must be a walk of faith and trust in Him. We often quote and even sing these words:
Mt 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
But if our concerns continue to be, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ Mt 6:31 , we are getting our feet dirty … we are picking up sin as we walk the Christian walk. So we need our feet washed. We need regular cleansing from Jesus. Not a bath … we had that at salvation. But we need our spiritual feet washed often. John said this is how we keep our feet clean … If we walk in the light as he is the light we have fellowship with Him and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all the sin we pick along the way (1John 1:7).
Paul gave us a concept at the close of chapter 5. Here it is:
Ro 5:20 … where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
But Paul tells us that there were critics in his life who, as he put it, “Slanderously report that I am saying - 'Let us do evil that good may result'?” Ro 3:8. But here he says;
Ro 6:2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
So technically speaking … We could sin all we want and really appreciate God's forgiveness over and over again. We could be heard saying again and again … “Wow! It sure feels good to be clean!” (Or in the previous analogy of Jesus … “Jesus, just keep washing my feet. It feels so refreshing and good. I could enjoy this twenty times a day!”)
But Jesus is lovingly telling us, “Children, I would like you to stop playing in the dirt. I will wash your feet as needed, but please don't head for the nearest mud puddle.”
This discussion gets a whole lot more serious in the next verses.
Ro 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
As Paul goes a little 'deeper' into the reasons why our 'walk' should be as clean as possible, he uses the word 'baptism'. Did you know that there are at least two kinds of baptism? One is baptism with or in water. Another is baptism in the Spirit. Which one is Paul talking about here and how can we know for sure? Actually scripture addresses this.
First of all, look at this one: Eph 4:4a There is ….5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
That verse just corrects what I said … there are not two kinds of baptism … only one. But there is what we might call 'actual baptism' and 'symbolic baptism'.
What is 'actual' baptism? By that term I mean, something that 'actually' happens. We will address the next verse and comment a little further on this.
Ro 6:4 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.
Buried with Christ; Lets talk about what this is NOT. Obviously you did not live in another life two thousand years ago and die and get buried with Jesus in His tomb.
Is this is talking about commitment? Am I to 'consider my old life dead'? Is this speaking of being committed to living the life Jesus has for me?
There are other verses that are similar to Romans 6:4. For example:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Ga 2:20
You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.(Col 3.3)
… having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. Col 2:12
Is this a matter of 'frame of mind'? If it is, perhaps today I am committed to living in Jesus, but what if I slip from it tomorrow? This is only part of it. Yes, we must see ourselves, and consider ourselves as 'dead to sin' but this is only part of it. It goes much deeper than this. There was an 'actual' baptism. It was invisible and undetectable by you, nevertheless it was actual. When you first called out to Jesus to forgive your sin, something actual and real happened in the background. This verse in First Corinthians says it well.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body … Notice in this verse two words … Spirit and baptized. We know there is only one baptism. This verse talks about the one actual baptism that put you into Jesus. And it was not water. It was the spirit. So there is only one actual baptism and that is Spirit Baptism. The very moment you repented of your sinful past and trusted Christ as the only one who could forgive you and save you from eternal death in Hell; the only one who could give you everlasting life … the moment you turned to Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit placed you into Jesus. That is the true and actual baptism. Water baptism is symbolic. It is a picture that we make with our bodies in the water. It is a picture of the actual baptism. By making the public picture when we go down into the water … we are proclaiming publicly that we have already been baptized by the Spirit into Jesus.
Ro 6:5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
To repeat and explain further, the Holy Spirit places us into Jesus … And looking backward in time … Jesus died and was buried … so we identify with that. Were we there at the time? Not literally but, yes, in spirit we were there. Whether we said this or not at the time we trusted Jesus for salvation, here is what we said: “Jesus, I died with You that day. My life without You was temporary and would have ended with me in Hell. So I put that life to death the moment I turned to you. You were crucified for me and I join You in that. My old life is dead and gone. I am in You now. I have been given new life, Your life. You were raised from the dead … and I am raised with You to live a new life.”
Ro 6:6 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. Ro 6:7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
So here is Paul's point. The 'body of sin' (our past life as a non-believer) is supposed to be done away with. This can be a struggle for some. It certainly was for the apostle Paul. We will not take time to talk about the struggle and why is exists until we get to chapter 7 (Romans 7:15-24)
Ro 6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
Ro 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Jesus rose from the dead. He lives. He lives with purpose. He is seated at the right hand of God. He is preparing a place for us2(John 14:2) . He intercedes3 (Ro 8:34) for us. He is called our Mediator4 (I Timothy 2:5).
… and (so Paul reasons …) so should we.
Ro 6:11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We have eternal life because of Jesus. We saw ourselves as having no hope in the world without Him. We confessed our sin to Him. We asked for forgiveness … and out of the miry clay He lifted us5. (Psalm 40:1-3). We now enjoy eternal life … life with purpose. Jesus intercedes for us … and has given us a ministry of intercession6 (I Timothy 2:1). Through the price Jesus paid for us, we have been 'reconciled' … and now He has given us a ministry of reconciliation7 (2 Corinthians 5:18).
Jesus is our 'high priest', and He has made us priests. We must function as priests .. whose work was always done in behalf of others.
Ro 6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
With a ministry much the same as Jesus' own ministry, how can we even entertain the thought of living in sin, just so that we can enjoy being washed over and over again? It doesn't even make sense to 'sin that grace may abound'.
Ro 6:13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Paul is telling the Christians in Rome … and telling us, that a conscious decision and action must be taken by us. I don't think that this is a 'one-time' thing. I think this is something that we might have to say the first thing each day. And when we forget that we consciously offered every part of ourselves to God as we got up this morning ...we may have to repeat this at various points throughout the day.
...we are under grace. Grace is a teacher/trainer … Paul wrote to Titus, 2:11 ¶ ... the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
In this verse we see that
- grace brought salvation for all people
- And that grace trains us how to live. much.(Luke 7:41-47)
Grace caused that woman to express love. She did not go out from the presence of Jesus – right back to sinning like she did before, just so she could be forgiven all over again.
Ro 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
Paul now restates this another way. As powerful a motivator as grace/favor is, Paul knows that some of us, maybe most of us need to hear this from another angle. So now he talks to us about habits that we form.
Ro 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Ro 6:17 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.
Ro 6:18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Ro 6:19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
Ro 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Worldly living is a way of life. It becomes a part of a person. What happens when we come to Christ? Paul said in
2Co 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
If we are honest, we will be asking ourselves … Has the old REALLY passed away? Is it gone? What was included in that? The reason we have to even ask this is significant. We KNOW that much of the old still remains, don't we?
This is not a bible quote, “Old habits die hard”. But that is what we are looking at here. The conscious decision to offer ourselves totally to Him means we need to analyze our old habits … and purposely change them. We can start analyzing as we consider the remaining verses:
Ro 6:21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
We hear this expression/question once in a while; “And how's that workin' for ya?” It kind of fits here. The old way of life before salvation … is something to be ashamed of. What did it get us? Death. So, why even consider living the same way now that we are saved? It does not make any sense. We need to think like a person who has been pardoned from death row.
Ro 6:22 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.
Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Coming up we are going to take a close look at the 'legal grip' that the law had on us. But is the law bad? Everything that Paul has been saying about the law and its inability save those who try to keep it, would have been receive quite well by the gentile believers in the church. But the Jewish believers could be feeling quite uncomfortable. Paul gives an incredibly wonderful description of the law in the following chapter.
1 Pr 14:12 ¶ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Pr 16:25 ¶ There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
2 John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 Romans 8:34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died — more than that, who was raised — who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
4 1Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
5 Ps 40:1 ¶ « I waited patiently for the LORD; And He inclined to me, And heard my cry. 2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. 3 He has put a new song in my mouth — Praise to our God; Many will see it and fear, And will trust in the LORD.
6 I Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people
7 2Co 5:18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;