The Road to Salvation – We study Paul's letter to the Romans

Grace and habitual sin

¹What shall we say then? Shall we remain in sin, that grace may increase? – Romans 6:1

Paul begins immediately to answer a question that he already knew his readers would ask, namely that since our sin is forgiven by grace in any case, we can still sin. Romans 6 consists of two parts: verses 1-14 and 15:23. Each begins with a question and an answer about sin, and how we can no longer imitate it, even if we live in grace. On the contrary, it is precisely because we are in grace that sin no longer has to be a part of our life. Chapters 1 to 5 of Romans represent our sinful condition and what God's plan of salvation is for us. Romans 6 to 8 represent living out practical Christianity now that we are saved.

Man is a trichotomous composition: body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). It is the body (the flesh, Gr. soma) and spirit (the Spirit in us, Gr. pneuma) that are in constant conflict with each other, fed by our conscience. The soul (conscience, Gr. psuche) in the middle makes decisions towards the one or the other side. Paul makes it clear that the old man was crucified with Christ (verse 6). The new man rises from the dead with Christ. The spirit is made new, not the body (yet); and God does not interfere with our will. This one remains our responsibility.

Why then do we still struggle with sin? Because every time we sin, we want to breathe life back into the old person. Note here verse 6. We know that the old man has been crucified with Christ, but perhaps it is that many of us have not yet really surrendered fully to Jesus Christ! It is very important that we do not rely on feeling. Knowledge (knowing) and sensation (feeling) do not play together in one team. Often we know too little about the Word and rely on our own wavering feelings. I do not need to test (feel) sin to know it is wrong.

If we know (calculate, an accounting term, verse 11) that we are dead to sin, then we know that we are alive to Christ. We must now live a private and public life that will glorify God. It is essential that we do not feed the old man. Let's learn from a story. There was a man who felt that there were two dogs in his life, who were constantly fighting, a white and a black dog. Which one won? The one he fed the most! Verses 12-14 are exactly what the white and black dog is about. Who do you feed the most, the old self, or the new self?

Paul summarises it as follows: we are not under the law but under grace. The law is an external motivator; grace is an internal motivator. The law is driven by fear; the grace out of love.

Grace and untimely sin

¹⁵What then? Will we sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? No, definitely not! – Romans 6:15

The second part of the chapter begins with the second question in verse 15. It seems as if it is the same as the first question. However, it goes much further. The first question is whether we should remain in sin. The second question is whether we will sin. It's about the environment we live in now. We are now under grace and no longer under the law (verse 15). How serious are we about the fight against untimely sin? What prevents us from becoming better at what we do? By sinning less. See verse 16. This is again about the white and black dog and which one we feed the most. However, we have moved from the darkness (law, unsaved state) to the miraculous light (grace, saved state) and therefore we can overcome in this. See 1 Peter 2:9-10.

We are now no longer servants of sin, but servants of Jesus Christ. In verse 17 there is an interesting word whose true meaning can be lost if we do not understand the original language. The word "example" (Gr. Τύπον [tupos]; Afr. impression, pattern, form) actually refers to a cast iron with which metal is formed, much like when you heated lead on a piece of gas as a child, in a cast mould, and made sinkers before you go fishing. Hard metal can only be shaped by heat, into the shape the person making it wants.

You and I are put in a melting pot by circumstances around us in this life to form us into the image of Christ. We must become like believers who were melted by heat and formed into something useful. This is what the Spirit does for us, if we let Him. We can choose to let the circumstances overwhelm us and remain formless, or we can choose to grow and be shaped by them.

Now that we have been freed from the law and sin (verse 18), we are serviceable for the right cause, justice. We do not need to sin again. We were slaves to sin because we were born in sin. Sin is all we have known, and we have done what the master of sin asked of us. Now that we are born again, we have a new Master, and we now do what this Master asks of us. However, we are not only reformed, but we are also made new (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We must remember that sin is only fully removed when the body is also made new (1 Corinthians 15). It is for this reason that Paul speaks of the weakness of our flesh (verse 19). However, to share this, we need to do three things:

1. First, we must imitate the new Master, no longer the old one. See 2 Corinthians 7:17. In Christ we are new people. The old people no longer exist. Everything in us has become new.
2. Next, we must gain and maintain spiritual momentum, and walk the path of faith as God intended it for us. Once we gain momentum, it's easier to keep going. Godly habits, if sustained, become easier to live out as a daily action.
3. Finally, we have to decide what we want at the end. We can choose which path we want to walk, but there are only two options. However, we cannot choose the end. The choice we made to walk one way, the narrow way or the wide one, determines the final destination, which has already been determined (Matthew 7:13-14).

What fruit do we bear? There are two: the fruit of unbelief and the fruit of sanctification (verses 21 and 22). Verse 23 explains what we can get at the end of the day based on the decision we made. The wage, the price or compensation for a life of sin, is death. Directly opposite to this is the gift of God, eternal life with Jesus Christ. You have a choice, but only for one of the two. There is no middle ground.

Summary

We are faced with choices daily. We can choose to go to the world and live out its lust (1 John 2:15-16; Romans 6:23a), or to go to the Word and live as God intends it for us (1 John 2:17; Romans 6:23b). Which desire do you pay the most attention to? Which one do you feed the most?

Chapters

• Romans Chapter 1
• Romans Chapter 2
• Romans Chapter 3
• Romans Chapter 4
• Romans Chapter 5
• Romans Chapter 6
• Romans Chapter 7
• Romans Chapter 8
• Romans Chapter 9
• Romans Chapter 10
• Romans Chapter 11
• Romans Chapter 12
• Romans Chapter 13
• Romans Chapter 14
• Romans Chapter 15
• Romans Chapter 16

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