Romans 6:1-5
by:
Dan Hill, PhD
Pastor, Southwood Bible Church
7655 South Sheridan Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74113
E-Mail: hill918@aol.com
Now in Romans 6 through 8 we will see how Grace can reign in our lives all
the way to eternal life. We call this sanctification, the believer growing
in God in the Christian Life by means of the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 5 we saw that, as a result of the fall and God's condemnation
on mankind, we can have much more.
What we regain in salvation surpasses what Adam and the woman had prior
to the fall.
Our God is God of MUCH MORE . . . We can be assured that whatever we have
from grace far surpasses what we presently have. Wherever God leads you
will be a place of MUCH MORE.
This is true even if getting to that place seems like a step backwards.
The Environment of the Garden ---- The Fall ----
---- Condemnation ---- Justification ---- Grace Reigns
Paul builds Chapter 6 around two questions. The first one is in v 1 and
the second one is in v 15. Following each is the answer to the question.
In each question he deals with that which can derail sanctification.
Chapter 6: The problem of sins
Chapter 7: The conflict of sins
Chapter 8: Our freedom from sins (Life in the Spirit).
Romans 6:1
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?
Remember what he stated as a historical and logical fact back in Romans
5:20, "And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but
where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."
Now if grace abounded where sin increased, why not continue in sin so there
can more grace?
But the one who would come to this conclusion is doing so on a personal
level where the statement was made on the historical and logical level.
It is true that in the unfolding plan of God we can see grace abounding
when we; but that does not mean we, personally, should aim to sin so grace
is made even grater.
As absurd as this sounds to us we often hear this when testimonies are given.
The worse a person was as a sinner the greater the grace of God seems to
be.
In college I was often called upon to give my testimony because of the riotous
living I did up until my salvation at age 20. But I had a good friend who
was raised by missionary parents who became a believer at age four or five
and had a rather dull testimony. He did not get called upon that often.
So occasionally he would make up a testimony. While he did not do the sin
he spoke of, the people thought he did and so there was more sin and it
appeared that there was more grace.
BUT REALIZE THAT THE AMOUNT OF GRACE IT took to save you or me or anyone
was all the same. We all stood on the outside looking in, we were all under
condemnation, we were all sinners who had fallen short of the glory of God
The answer begins with a dogmatic NO.
Romans 6:2
May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
The exclamation is ME GENOITO and is a aorist, middle, optative.
The optative is the mood of wish or desire. It is Paul's wish that this
not be their attitude or thinking. Middle voice speaks of personal benefit
for them not to think this.
Then another question: How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Paul contrasts a past aorist (died) with a future (live) to show the position
we have, having died to sin.
So he looks back and then ahead and places us right in the middle and makes
an abrupt declaration, we have died to sin.
In verse 11 he will look back to the event that made us dead to sins power
and then at verse 12 he looks ahead to how we need not allow sin to reign
in our lives . . . remember, we are to have the reign of grace in our lives,
not sin.
Romans 6:3
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus have been baptized into His death?
By saying OR DO YOU NOT KNOW, Paul sets what he is about to say as an established
fact true whether or not they know it.
ALL OF US refers to all believers, those who have put faith alone in Christ
alone.
BAPTIZED: identified with Christ, this is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
that occurs to every believer at the moment of salvation.
The verb WERE BAPTIZED is an aorist, passive, indicative. This indicates
that it was something we received in a passive sense. Indeed for most believing
sinners they were not even aware of it. But it happened.
The Holy Spirit identified us with Christ, who he is and all that he did
and all that he possesses.
Topic: BAPTISM
Paul now explains what he means.
Romans 6:4
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in
order that, as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the
Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
The bottom line of this verse is: that "we too might walk in newness
of life."
The word NEWNESS is KAINOTJS, a dative of advantage, and refers to that
which is new or fresh in both form and quality.
Our new life in Christ is new, fresh, in its form and quality because, as
we will find when we get to Romans 8, it is a life dependent upon the power
of the Holy Spirit.
That word for NEWNESS is found only here and in Romans 7:6 where Paul talks
of how we are to serve in the newness of the spirit rather than in the oldness
of the letter of the law.
And Paul gets to that bottom line through two truths:
Retroactive Positional Truth: Looks to our identification with
the death of Christ
Current Positional Truth: Looks to our identification with the resurrection
of Christ.
In these verses Paul explains these truth by using the illustration of water
Baptism which is a picture of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
I cannot say water baptism is not in view because water baptism, to this
point in the Scriptures, has not been explained. It is in view but only
as a picture of what was done by God to make these truth a true position
in our lives.
Romans 6:5
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly
we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Here Paul begins to look at the attitude we are to have regarding the Baptism
of the Holy Spirit, what God accomplished on our behalf.
Notice how easily it goes from BAPTISM to UNITED and that is because they
describe the same concept, to be IDENTIFIED with Christ's work and person.
Two truths, two likeness, two identification. One deals with the OSN having
its power over us broken and the other deals with the manner of life we
now live, the newness of the life we have.
Relating back to the thesis statement of Romans 5:21, a newness of life
in which grace reigns.
Principles:
1. Through faith in Christ, we are placed into union with Christ
through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
2. This Baptism identifies us and makes us a shareholder in Christ's life
and death and life.
3. This identification and sharing of Him occurs in two ways which becomes
the foundation for retroactive and current positional truth.
4. The first identification is with Him in His Birth, life, and Spiritual
death.
These three resulted in Him being qualified to go to the Cross
as the sin bearer and die in our place.
These three resulted in His immpecability, He did not sin and the issue
is not whether or not he could or could not (in humanity he could in deity
he could not) but that He did not sin.
Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things
as we are, yet without sin."
5. To be identified with Christ in His death gives us the positional
victory over the OSN.
Romans 6:6, "Knowing this, that our old self was crucified
with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no
longer be slaves to sin."
That identification breaks the power of the sin nature over
the believer. Any power the OSN has after salvation is given to it by our
volition.
6. The second truth, the second identification is with Christ in his physical
death, burial, and resurrection, ascension, and present session.
Notice that between spiritual death and physical death, Jesus, on the Cross
said "it is finished."
What was finished was the sacrifice for sins and all that was necessary
for breaking the power of the OSN over the believer.
But then what??? We need a new life, if the old man, the OSN is no longer
the power, now what?
Philippians 3:10, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death."
The power by which we live in the newness of life is ours because of the
resurrection.
What happened when Jesus ascended? The Holy Spirit descended. And the Holy
Spirit is now our power for Grace reigning in our lives and the newness
of life we can have.
7. These two identifications provides Retroactive positional truth and current
positional truth.
We were with Christ at the Cross, we are with Him now in glory.
The mechanics of positional truth is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that
occurs whenever a sinner believes in Christ.
End of Lesson 22
Grace Notes
Warren Doud
1705 Aggie Lane, Austin, Texas 78757
Phone: 512-458-8923
E-Mail: wdoud@bga.com
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