Romans 6 (Pt 1)

Romans 6:1-2 (ESV)

[1] What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? [2] By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Paul’s question and answer in these two verses often trouble us. “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” Of course not, we reason. True faith means commitment and obedience. You can’t just say you believe. You must change. You must be absolutely committed. Didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 16:24 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”? We are troubled that anyone would even ask that question about continuing in sin that grace may abound. But the truth is that if we truly understood what Paul just said about salvation in Romans 5, we would be asking this very question. If grace abounded where sin abounded, if salvation is by grace not works, law, or obedience, if salvation comes through Jesus rather than law then logically one would ask, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” It is the natural conclusion to Paul’s explanation of the gospel in the first five chapters of Romans.

 We are even more troubled by Paul’s answer. Our response tends to focus on life transformation. We reason that true faith changes how we live. Therefore, the answer to the question of continuing in sin in order for grace to abound is to explain “true faith.” But Paul’s answer is quite different. He does not focus on action, obedience, or commitment. He focuses on identity. “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” We shake our heads and say, “What!? What do you mean I died to sin? I’m trying to die to sin, but sin is a very real thing yet in my life.” But the text goes on,

[3] Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? [4] We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life (Rom 6:3-4).

He does not argue about what “real faith” is. Rather, he explains that when a person puts their faith in Christ, they are changed. Not, they must change, or they will change, but they are changed. By faith we are placed into Christ Jesus. We are placed into his death. We are buried with him by having been placed into his death. We are then raised from the dead just as Jesus was raised from the dead. Having died, been buried, and risen to new life we are then enabled to walk in new life.

 Too often when a person confesses faith in Christ we try to front load the gospel by explaining that faith means submission and obedience. We do this because we want to see life transformation. What we neglect to understand is that submission and obedience are the fruit not of faith, but of death and resurrection. Rather than trying to impress obedience and submission on new believers, what if we taught them their new identity in Christ? What if we taught them that they are no longer sinners, that the gospel goes beyond forgiveness? What if we taught them that they have already been changed, that they are new creations in Christ? What if we taught them that by God’s grace they are not sinners saved by grace and hoping to change, but that they are in fact changed?

 What if we taught new believers about their identity rather than teaching commitment? Might that not result in greater submission and obedience than obedience, submission, and law ever could? Law failed to save. Law failed to transform. In Romans 5:10 Paul wrote that we are “saved by his life.” We tend to say that we are saved by his death, ignoring the necessity and power of the resurrection. All law did was reveal brokenness. Why is it, then, that we assume that law can change us once we have confessed faith? Understanding our identity in Christ, realizing that we are saved by his life is what transforms us where law always fails.