Applying the Gospel Study Bible
Church & Ministry Resource Guide
How Are We Supposed to “Die to Sin”?
We Have Died to Sin
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 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. —Romans 6:1–4
Paul knows his audience, as he’s been proclaiming the gospel to communities like the Romans for a long time. He skillfully anticipates the objections in the hearts of his hearers. When they heard in Romans 5:2 that we stand in God’s grace, they may have thought—as you and I may sometimes think—that if there’s more grace when I sin, and grace is good, why not sin more? He replies emphatically, as he has a few other times so far, “By no means!” May we never rationalize our sin as a way to display more of God’s grace. To do so is to misunderstand God’s grace, at best, and exploit it, at worst.
We have died to sin; we can no longer live in it. If we believe in the Lord Jesus, we no longer live under the reign of sin but rather live under the reign of grace (Rom. 5:21). Paul uses the image of baptism to make his point. For we who belong to Jesus, our former selves were buried with him when we were saved. Our new selves now live in him and in his resurrection. Our baptism does not save us; rather, the washing of our bodies with water represents the washing away of our sins by Christ’s blood, through his death and resurrection.
Romans
Jen Oshman
In this volume in the Conversational Commentary series, Jen Oshman offers women a warm and clear verse-by-verse examination of the book of Romans. It’s an accessible resource for personal study, small-group discussions, teaching, and outreach.
Our baptism is a physical demonstration that we identify with Jesus’s death (when we go under the water) and his resurrected life (when we come up out of the water). Different Christian denominations apply this text differently. For example, Baptists practice baptism by full immersion under water, while Presbyterians typically baptize with a sprinkling or pouring of water. Our baptisms are not a mere formality. Our baptisms proclaim to the world that we have new life. Christian, have you been baptized? More than that, do your thoughts, words, and deeds communicate to others that you have died to sin and walk in newness of life with your risen Savior?
United with Him
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. —Romans 6:5–8
Our only hope in life and death is that we belong to Jesus. Our union with him in his death and our union with him in his resurrection is the foundation and joy of the Christian life! Our old self was crucified with Christ. Our bodies of sin have been brought to nothing. We no longer have to obey our sinful urges. Sin is not our tyrant. We have been set free.
As Paul says in his letter to the Galatians, “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” (Gal. 2:20). When you and I surrender to Jesus, our old, sinful selves pass away, and our new selves begin to live. We are regenerated, or made new, by the Holy Spirit. It’s not that you and I will never sin again, but our new reality in Jesus is that we now have a way out of sin. We are alive in our resurrected Savior, and sin no longer reigns here.
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Alive in Jesus
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. —Romans 6:9–11
Out of immeasurable mercy and humility, Jesus voluntarily subjected himself to death on a cross on our behalf. His one death is sufficient and allows you and me to be reconciled to the Father. Jesus will never die again. While Jesus’s death was once and for all, his eternal life is in God and will never ever end. He lives eternally, and we who are in him will live eternally too. Our old life in sin is over. Our new life in Christ will last forever.
Paul ends this paragraph with a command. Because Jesus reigns over death and sin, and we are in Jesus, you and I must also consider ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ. Do you believe this? Do you apply the truth of Christ’s victory over sin to yourself? The truth is that our salvation rests on Christ’s work alone. Our doubts, anxieties, mistakes, and rebellion do not change the truth of what Christ accomplished for us once and for all. Paul says, then, apply this truth to your life. Walk in what’s already true, already accomplished, already eternal: The Christian is dead to sin and alive in Jesus. Neither death nor sin have any hold over you and me.
May we rejoice in the truth of God’s grace reigning in us. May we live like it!
An Instrument of Righteousness
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. —Romans 6:12–14
To state this truth like an obstinate toddler: Sin is not the boss of you and me. We do not have to obey the passions of our flesh. We who are now alive in Jesus must not offer our bodies up to sin. This means we must consider all that our bodies are prone to do: thinking sinful thoughts, saying ungodly words, committing unholy deeds. May you and I refuse to allow neither our enemy nor our flesh to have their way with us. May we instead present ourselves to God. We belong to him. He lives in us. He gets to say how we use our bodies now.
Are you an instrument of righteousness? While it’s true that our righteousness does not earn our salvation, righteous living is the right response to our salvation. Because Jesus has made us alive in him, we belong to God. Our thoughts, words, and deeds are instruments in our Father’s hands to put his righteousness in us on display. God has dominion over us. He bought us back from sin. We are not under the law of sin but under the grace of God. May we rejoice in the truth of God’s grace reigning in us. May we live like it!
Be encouraged because Paul is not saying here, “Christian, do better! Try harder!” He’s stating what’s already true: Christ conquered sin and death on the cross and in his resurrection. Therefore, we who are in him, by his power, have overcome sin and death as well. Without Christ’s perfect obedience on our behalf, we are left to trust in our own attempts at perfect obedience to the law, from which we and Paul know we fall woefully short. But by accepting Jesus’s justification on our behalf, we are no longer under the law but under Christ. Because of Jesus, we stand righteous. We are free from the demands and oppression of the law. Because of Jesus, we are under grace.
This article is adapted from Romans: Saved by Grace by Jen Oshman.
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