The Epistles · Chapter 6 of 16

Romans 6

Paul answers whether grace invites more sin with an emphatic no. Believers died to sin and were baptized into Christ's death, buried and raised with him to walk in newness of life. The old self was crucified, so sin should no longer reign. He urges them to reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to God, and to yield their members to righteousness. The wages of sin is death, but God's gift is eternal life.

What happens in Romans 6

Paul takes up the objection: if grace abounds where sin abounds, should we sin more. His answer is God forbid. Those who died to sin cannot go on living in it. In baptism believers were united with Christ's death and burial, and raised with him to walk in newness of life. Our old man was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be broken and we should no longer be enslaved to sin. Since Christ dies no more, believers are to reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to God.

Paul then exhorts them not to let sin reign in their bodies but to yield themselves to God as instruments of righteousness, for they are under grace, not law. Everyone is a servant of what they obey, whether sin unto death or obedience unto righteousness. The chapter ends contrasting the wages of sin, death, with the gift of God, eternal life through Jesus.

Romans 6 in context

Chapter five ended with grace abounding over sin, which raises an obvious misunderstanding: does grace license sin. Chapter six answers by explaining what union with Christ actually accomplishes. Paul draws on baptism as a picture of dying and rising with Jesus, and on the imagery of slavery and freedom familiar in the Roman world.

The argument moves the letter from how sinners are justified to how the justified are set free to live.

Main themes of Romans 6

Romans 6 (KJV)

1What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin. 8Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 19I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 23For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Verses to carry from Romans 6

“Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”Romans 6:4

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”Romans 6:11

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”Romans 6:23

Reflection

Trying harder rarely breaks sin's grip, and Paul offers something deeper than effort: you have already died to sin and been raised with Christ. The command is to reckon it true, to live from an identity God has given rather than fighting for one.

You are no longer sin's slave. When it calls, you can answer as one who belongs to another Master now.

A prayer from Romans 6