Believers’ Death to Sin – Adult STS Lesson 234
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
Romans 6:1,2 (Memory Verse)
Introduction
Apostle Paul proved in our previous lessons that all men, Jews and Gentiles, are sinful. He also showed how God graciously reckons faith as righteousness, and thereby justifies the sinner “…without the deeds of the law”. For “by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight… But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 3:28,20; 4:5).
In the current study, the apostle focuses on the life of those who are justified by grace. He sets out to debunk the misgiving of some professing believers who think that those justified by grace could still live in sin and that their sinful deeds will be covered by the ever-increasing grace of God. He affirms that grace makes no allowance for believers to continue in sin. Thus, such erroneous belief amounts to turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, as it completely negates the purpose of Christ’s sacrifice of dying as the Lamb of God to “…take away our sins…” and shedding His blood to “cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 3:5; 1:9).
Paul uses the analogy of water baptism to show how justification is divinely designed to lead to total identification with Christ in righteousness, obedience to God and holy living. He highlights righteousness and holy living as the unmistakable evidence of justification. Therefore, to tolerate sin under any guise is unscriptural and unacceptable as the grace of God has immense power to completely break the hold of sin on any life and set the sinner free (Romans 5:20). Saved and justified, the grace of God we have experienced empowers and teaches us to “[deny] ungodliness and worldly lusts, [and] live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:12).
CONTRADICTION OF LIVING IN SIN AFTER JUSTIFICATION
Romans 6:1-10; 1 Corinthians 10:2; Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 4:25; 1 John 5:10
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1,2). The surprise and disapproval expressed in Paul’s rhetorical questions here show how absurd and unthinkable it is to contemplate taking encouragement from God’s gracious act of justification to continue in sin. He, therefore, proceeded to explain that the practical purpose of justification is to unite the justified with Christ and make them have the newness of life. The apostle illustrates this point with the ordinance of water baptism.
When a person is saved, he/she is “baptized into Jesus Christ” (verse 3), in the sense that such is identified with Christ in His death and resurrection. A convert’s immersion in water represents the death and burial of the old nature; while the raising out of water signifies resurrection. In this manner, Christ’s death and resurrection assume a representative implication for the justified. “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” (verse 4). Having been buried and raised with Christ, the believer’s unspoken declaration is that “the old man” or sinful nature is dead and buried, and that Christ is the One who now lives in him (Galatians 2:20). All who are justified and have the risen Christ in them are “dead unto sin but alive unto God”. They walk in newness of life, holiness and righteousness.
In the Scripture, spiritual death precedes spiritual life and fruitfulness. Christ affirms, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). He reveals this truth in relation to His death and, by extension, to ours. We must believe and demonstrate in conduct that “our old man is crucified with him” and “the body of sin… destroyed”, it is to the end that henceforth we “should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin”. Great is the mystery of godliness! Aside from the freedom that justification accomplishes in us, we have hope that “we shall also live with him” in heaven as we continue to abide in Him (Romans 6:5-10).
CONFIRMATION OF THE NEWNESS OF LIFE IN CHRIST
Romans 6:11-19; Philippians 2:12,13; Romans 8:9; 5:5; 1 John 5:3; 1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (verses 11,12). Paul teaches that as Christ rose from death to continue to live for God, believers should do the same. He uses the word, “likewise” to make application and show the responsibility of believers in the death of our “old man” and the consequent “newness of life”. Believers’ death to sin happens by willful action and attitude under the grace of Christ. We “reckon” ourselves dead to sin through the enabling power of God’s grace by deliberately responding to temptations the way a dead man cannot respond to enticements and provocations. When the old man in us is dead, it ceases to influence our choices and decisions. Paul also teaches the principles by which the justified live with the words, “let not” i.e. do not allow sin “reign” in the realms of thought, imagination and will as that will graduate to obeying its propensities and will as that cannot have power over us unless it first subdues our thought processes; For this is why we must guard our minds: “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts… every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin…” (Mark 7:21; James 1:14,15). Believers are empowered by grace to disallow the incubation of sin in their hearts and thus prevent it from hatching sinful actions. It is with this expectation that believers should constantly work out their “own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). The exhortation was not referring to salvation by works, but emphasises the sincere believer’s active will in pursuit of obedience to God’s word and reliance on His enabling grace.
The apostle also uses the word, “yield” in regard to the expression of grace. “Neither 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” (verse 13). Refusal to yield members of our body as instruments of unrighteousness is evidence of God’s grace in our lives. People who have experienced His grace have inner hatred for sin. They deny ungodliness and worldly lusts by refusing to yield or lend any part of their physical body – hand, eye, ear, tongue, leg, etc. – to be tools for sin. Having been united with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection, we “yield [ourselves] unto God” and “[our] members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (verse 13); that is, to willfully and deliberately submit to Christ for use in the work and promotion of righteousness.
Another reason sin does not have dominion over a justified child of God is that “we are not under the law, but under grace” (verse 14). The law is not the condition or basis for our acceptance with God but grace. The law only tells us what is right, what we ought to do, but without furnishing us with the power to do it. While the law leaves a man condemned and guilty, grace produces holiness, especially as the believer receives and lives by the indwelling Spirit and word of grace (Romans 8:9; Hebrews 10:29; Acts 20:32). Under grace, a believer has such understanding and appreciation of God’s love demonstrated at Calvary, and derives extra motivation to love and obey Him. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).
Again, grace does not give licence to sin. “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid” (verse 15). God’s grace teaches and empowers believers to deny “ungodliness, and worldly lusts [and live] soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:12). This is why a believer cannot be lawless being under Christ’s law of love (1 Corinthians 9:21; Galatians 6:2). Thus, we are bound to love, serve and please the Lord always; and love our neighbour as ourselves.
“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness” (verse 16). If we sell ourselves to sin, we are enslaved to it, and are marked for reprieve. If, on the other hand, we choose to obey God, the result is a holy life of peace, freedom and eternal life in His kingdom. “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (verse 18). Then, we ensure we continue to abide in His grace, praying, watching, studying and obeying His word so as not to lose our spiritual experiences and be lost, since there is no eternal security for those who slide back into the life of sin.
CONTRAST BETWEEN THE FRUITS OF SIN AND RIGHTEOUSNESS
Romans 6:19-23; Ecclesiastes 12:14; 1 Corinthians 5:6; Revelation 22:7; Isaiah 55:1,2; John 6:27
If we keep in constant view the ends of a life of justification, and one under the grace of justification, it will prove as a great motivation to accept God’s free gift of salvation in Christ. Even before the great and terrible day of the Lord, when “God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing…” (Ecclesiastes 12:14), Apostle Paul calls his readers to be judges between the fruits of sin and those of righteousness. “For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death” (Romans 6:20,21). He challenges erstwhile sinners to show what profits they stand to lose by abandoning sin and accepting the grace of God in Christ.
The list of the fruits of sin must certainly include wanton abuse of God-given talents, betrayal of affections and trusts, squandering of precious resources and opportunities, wrongs done to parents, abuse of children, spouses and friends, violation of our best interests and, worst of all, spurning the free offer of God’s unspeakable love through Jesus Christ. All we can glean from “the time past of our life… when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries” (1 Peter 4:3) are such as would make us blush and shameful. Seeing others still revelling and wallowing in these follies of the past should quicken us to the duty of evangelism. Not only so, we must be so dedicated to righteousness and the love of God with the same unabashed single-mindedness with which we served sin. “For when [we] were servants of sin, [we] were free from righteousness”, now that we have become children of God, we must prayerfully ensure we remain totally free from sin.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (verse 23). Every sinful act leads inexorably to spiritual, physical and eternal death. The final abode of sinners lies in the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels “where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44,46,48). It is the most pitiable form of ignorance for people to labour, endure, suffer and even compete with one another in order to earn a place in hell.
It is amazing that God offers “eternal life as a gift” to an undeserving world through Jesus Christ only, who died for our sins and rose again for our justification. He obtained it with His own blood and gives it only to those who repent of their sins and receive Him as Lord and Saviour. Our identification with Him requires that we die to sin, walk and serve God in the newness of life. The God of all grace with His infinite power is able to save from sin, generate inner spiritual strength for holy living and preserve us in godliness till the end.
Questions for Review
- Highlight the erroneous belief about justification by grace in the text.
- How does the ordinance of water baptism illustrate the believer’s death and resurrection with Christ?
- Explain what Paul means by believers being “dead to sin”.
- What are the outcomes of being dead to sin?
- Highlight the advantages believers have under grace in their walk to please God.
- Mention some fruits of a sinful life on earth and in eternity.
- What is the duty of believers with respect to sinners who still glory in their shame?