Death & Life                          Romans 6:1-11

I want to continue our exploration of Paul’s letter to the Roman Church. Last week we saw how Adam’s sin exposed the sinful nature of mankind; how we don’t sin because Adam did, Adam sinned because he was human. We saw how this one man brought death into the world, and how another man, Jesus, by his act of obedience, brought everlasting life to the world. In this chapter Paul explains to the Roman Christians how we experience Christ’s death and resurrection in our lives through faith. Our salvation is not just because Jesus died and rose, our salvation is because we too die and rise with Christ.

Chapter 6 begins with a question that Paul probably has been asked many times as he preached; verse 1, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” I’ve had people say things similar to me, “You’re saying you can sin as much as you want because God doesn’t punish you, must be nice.” That is not what I’m saying. And it definitely is not what Paul means.

I used to think, who would ask these questions? Who would actually think God says it’s ok to live a sinful and self-centered life? I think there’s two groups of people who would think like this. One group consists of people who are skeptical that grace covers your sins. They don’t really believe this is true, so they try to disprove it by taking it to the extreme. This is probably the largest of the groups, they either don’t understand, or they don’t want to understand, so they go to the extreme to satisfy their desire not to accept Christ. They take our beliefs to the extreme to try and disprove our beliefs.

The second group are those who understand grace and accept Jesus, but they don’t want to accept the part where we turn our lives over to God and work at living as he tells us to. This group, in order to remove their responsibility in God’s plan, take God’s grace as permission to sin freely. They take grace as a license to live any way they want, and this is usually in a way that causes them little to no thought nor concern for others. They want to have God’s grace and still be able to live self-centered, ambitious lives.

Verse 2, “We are those who have died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?” Through faith, we are dead to sin. Think of your car battery. When it is dead it can no longer cause your car to function. It has no influence over the car’s functions. We are dead to sin. As believers, sin can no longer have influence over our inner self. Now, we must understand this completely. We have been given free choice and salvation doesn’t end this freedom. We always have the choice to act in a sinful way or not. In these verses Paul is talking about our spiritual selves. Jesus died a physical death to pay the consequences of sin so we don’t have to die a spiritual death. Through the death of Jesus we are no longer spiritually dead because of sin, we are spiritually dead to sin. The reality is now, sin has nothing to do with our status with God. We have been redeemed.

Verse 4, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

This is one of those verses that seems to contradict others. At first it seems to say we need to be baptized to be saved, but this goes in direct opposition to what Paul wrote in Romans 3:22, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”

Paul writes we are saved by faith, no mention of baptism, is he contradicting himself? To understand we must look at Acts 2:2, “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven…” At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came from heaven and entered the disciples. Next, Ephesians 1:13, “And you were also included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of salvation. When you believed, you were marked in Christ with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.”

Going back to our original verse, Paul is not talking about a water baptism. Paul is talking about our spiritual baptism. The moment we come to faith, at that very instant, the Holy Spirit enters us and lives within us. Through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, we are joined with Christ in his death, our death to sin; and we are joined with Christ in his resurrection, our entry into a new life with God. Our water baptism is just a physical representation of the spiritual baptism we experience through our faith.

Verse 9, “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again, death no longer has mastery over him.”

 Jesus died a physical death for the sins of the world. We undergo a physical death because of mankind’s sinful nature as exposed by Adam. But Jesus rose again into life by the power of God. As we share in his death we also share in his risen life. By the power and grace of God we are brought into his presence in heaven. And after his resurrection Jesus lived on earth among men, breathing and eating with men; we will live with Jesus among the saints and angels in heaven. We will live with a beating heart, breathing lungs, eating and drinking in celebration at the place Jesus prepared for us. And as the living, breathing Christ cannot die again, as we are joined with him, we cannot die a second time. We will be in heaven eternally alive, eternally in the presence of God. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son, so that who believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Verse 10, “The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives for God.”

In this sentence, Paul summarizes all that he’s written so far in chapter 6. Christ died for sin, not his sins, he died as payment for the sins of all those who believe in him. “He died to sin once and for all,” Jesus’ death is a onetime payment for all sins; past,  present, and future. Jesus does not need to go back to the cross. Christ’s work is finished.

Now that Jesus is resurrected, he lives “to God.” Jesus’ continued purposed is to live forever for God’s glory. He has no other agenda or work. This verse also describes us in the same way. We die once because of a sinful world. We are resurrected by the power and grace of God, never again having to go through a physical death. Our sinful nature is over and we will live forever to God. Jesus lives forever for God’s glory. We also will live nothing short of this.                       

Paul’s letter to the Roman church continues to teach Christians today. Paul tells us we indeed have God’s grace and are forgiven of our sins, but this is not a license to live a sinful life. Just the opposite is true, God’s grace is our motivation to live a life for him.

Paul explains how we are dead to sin, how it no longer can affect our standing with God.

Paul expounds on how through our faith the Holy Spirit baptizes us in spirit. We are joined with Christ. We share in his death as we die to sin. We share in his resurrection as we are re-born, redeemed and glorified.

Paul shows that by the sinful nature of the world we will die a physical death, but by our faith we will live bodily in the presence of Almighty God. And as the re-born, we will live for all eternity with Christ.

We will die as physical death due to a sinful world. We will rise by the grace and power of God, to live forever with him, and for his glory. This is the great promise of our faith.

Be at peace; by your faith you are baptized by the Holy Spirit. You will live forever in and for the glory of God.

Amen.