1. 1, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
Shall we continue sinning, so that we can come to God and confess our sins, so He can forgive us and we can resolve not to do it again, only to slip up again and sin again, so that we can confess it to God and so he can forgive us and we can resolve to not to do it again and continue in this cycle of sinning?
Indictment. There were Jews that followed Paul causing trouble, contradicting him, spreading false accusation, confusion, physical harm, setting doubt in hearers of Paul. They were accusing him of a teaching that you can continue sinning because you have an appointed, accredited, accounting type righteousness. That you’re not really righteous, you don’t do righteousness, you can continue in sin and still get to heaven because you have a clerically righteousness? That you don’t have to be obedient and not sin because you have this clerical, appointment of righteousness? And, that where the sin abounds, as you heap up your sins and the floodwaters of the damn of judgment rise to heaven, the grace of God covers that higher pile even more. The Jew would stand justified within himself in calling this belief system heretical. He would stand confident that the law was far superior and holds righteous standards and accountability by right doing. He would point to Paul’s heresy and say see your method of salvation is inferior to the law. As the law is the highest moral standard and God would never contradict himself nor wink at sin. That would be unjust and God would stand indicted.
2. 2, God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
a. Paul answers the indictment. God forbid (Gk: mē ginomai – mē=primary particle of qualified negation; ginomai=be ended, to be done, be finished or ended. Tense: 2 Arorist [expressing time:past, present, future] indefinite. Voice [expression: Middle Deponent [passive termination]. Mood: Optative- this is an example of a special case where the verb stands apart from conditional clause to express the strongest possible wish regarding an event). This is the strongest objection in the greek language. In grammer, God is the subject and forbid is the verb making a complete thought. God is the one doing the forbidding, there is no one higher the ultimate authority doing the forbidding. A weaker reading would be to “forbid it” or “let it never be”. The reason for the strength is that Paul wants to underline the eternal opposition and objection to such an indictment.
b. Dead to sin. Paul speaks of a state of being “dead to sin”. Not dead in sin, but dead to sin. This defines my relationship to sin. It is a reality that God expects us to live in. Not ought to be dead, not should be dead, not a theoretical or hypothetical death but an actual death. This reality defines my reality, my relationship and my response to sin.
c. How do I covercome sin? In the reality of your being dead to sin and resurrected to new life with Christ.
d. The bible did not stop with a theoretical salvation where positionally I’m saved and forgiven but practically and conditionally (in my condition) I am still a slave to sin.
3. 3, Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
a. Baptism. What is baptism, how many were there, is it water, what does being baptized in Christ mean? Baptism occurs some 91 times in the NT. Having examined each of them, they were classified into five categories. Water, Holy Ghost, Repentance, Death, Names (Christ, Moses etc.).
b. It is an emersion. Like today’s meaning. The politician was baptized by fire. The married couple had their baptismal yesterday…meaning they had a fight. The baptism is a word picture to explain what happens when Christ enters in and sanctifies me, makes me holy. Holiness itself entering into the man of God. It is a spiritual experience, not water. I am immersed into Christ and he in me. We join into a relationship through emersion yet distinct from eachother. This is as intimate as one can possibly be.
c. How many baptisms were there? There are actually 5 baptisms only one of them is dealing with water?
d. 3 elements in baptism. The Baptiser, baptisee and the medium in which they are baptized. When we are baptized into Christ = Another Christian, Baptisee=one who put his faith in Christ, Medium = Faith. John’s Baptism: Baptiser=John, Baptisee=the penetant, medium=water. Christ’s death: Baptiser is God, baptisee is a born again Christian, the medium is Christ’s death.
4. 4, 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.
a. Therefore, since this event has already taken place in my history, the declarative: I am buried with him by baptism into his death.
b. Christ raised. Like as Christ died, was buried, and rose again to new life, so am I. As Christ died, I died too. As Christ was buried, so was I. And as Christ was raised from the dead, alive unto God and sits resurrected and seated on the right hand of the Father and the throne. Even so we should account in like manner. In the same way and in the same reference to my reality.
5. 5, For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
a. Like being planted together and growing together; like two brothers growing up or two sisters, so we shall be also in respect to his resurrection. That as Christ is risen and alive, so am I. That I have been raised up from this body of corruption. That I have ascended into the heavenlies and was seated with Christ. Like as Christ is alive and has overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, so am I as ascended, as seated and raining in power and victory over the world the flesh and the devil and all by faith.
6. 6, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
a. Knowing this. Having this be the reality in which I live; the ground beneath my feet and the air that I breathe. That our old man IS, not ought to be, IS not in type or theoretically or hypothetically but IS crucified. My execution is a reality in which I call “that which be not as though it were.” There are things that we know, things that we don’t know and things that we don’t know that we don’t know. This is something that God expects us to KNOW. And that the knowing would be the centerpiece of our relationship to sin. Paul is not encouraging us to do something, not prompting us to do something, he’s encouraging us to reflect and remember something that is already taken place. This is a statement of fact. Knowing this, having this as a statement of fact that has already transpired in my history. He is assuming that all Christians know this. Not telling us to do something.
b. Old Man. He’s not talking about your father, he’s talking about the man that used to be you. The man that Christ put to death and IS no more. That man in which sin dwelled, that man in which sin found it’s expression, whatever that thing of sin was, it was executed, put to death and destroyed. That henceforth we should not serve it, Why? Because it’s dead.
i. Note: It is necessary to do expository on this term due to the confusion and miscommunication and vast amount of misleading materials. The term Old Man only occurs 4 times in scripture. The old man is not something that exists with the new man. It doesn’t share the same body, it doesn’t compete for command and control of the new man. It is not the spirit, it is not the soul nor the body. It is that thing which you feed, bathe and pamper. It is that thing which constitutes all that the you were before getting baptized into Jesus Christ. It is not a specific part, but the whole. That was put to death with Christ.
ii. Luk_1:18, And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
iii. Rom_6:6, Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
iv. Eph_4:22, That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
v. Col_3:9, Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
c. What was Crucified. Whatever sin is, that body of sin is, it is at least that thing where sin dwells where sin grows, where sin is fed, where it meets it expression, that thing called the body of sin was destroyed. The results of that being crucified and being destroyed is that henceforth we should not server sin.
7. 7, For he that is dead is freed from sin.
a. Not ought to be, not should be, not in type or hypothetical but actual. Paul is even asked the question: Paul you say that your body is dead but I still see your body here, what gives? Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ, nervertheless, …
b. He is assuming that this is the condition of all believers. That all believers are dead and freed from sin. This is a fact.
8. 8, Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
a. Assuming that these things be true, my death is a history in my reckoning and my resurrection is yet future. I live in a state of anticipation of the fulfillment of this promise. Knowing that it is true, mine and settled in my future history, I look for the adoption when my adopting father comes and takes me by the hand and leads me home to live with him forever. Where joy will be my new home and sanctuary.
9. 9, Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
a. Knowing this, that Christ’s experience is my experience. That experience I have been placed into by a spirit baptism. That Christ died unto sin; it no longer has power over him, that’s true for me too.
10. 10, For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
a. Christ died one time, not annually like Yom Kippur (The Atonement), not bi-annually, monthly, weekly or even daily. He died one time and then was seated at the right hand of the father. Heb 12:1-2 READ. The priest would NEVER sit in the temple (remember the altar is before the throne). There were no chairs, no loitering places, no starbucks. It was a place of serving continually, you would never sit before the king upon penalty of death. Jesus’ sitting down by Levitical law would be a statement that the work is finished. Jesus’ last words on the cross were “it is finished”.
11. 11, Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
a. In like manner, in the same way that Christ died unto sin once and now lives unto God; in the same way that I died once with Christ and live with Him by baptism into this experience. Reckon, calculate, affirm. That the SEAT, the FOUNDATION, the AUTHORITY, the METHOD by which a Christian stops sinning and never sins again, by which a Christian has power over all temptation over all sin, is based upon the fact that a Christian is DEAD to sin just as Christ is dead and is just as ALIVE as Christ is alive and is as FREED from sin as Christ is freed from sin. THIS IS THE WORD OF GOD. This is what it says; this is God’s verdict and judicial gavel on the subject. There is no second opinion, no test drive, no trial period. It is the final word on sin and my relationship with it.
b. Experience. You should not argue this from your experience, mine or what you see or don’t see in me. It is the reality by which God expects us to live.
c. Word of God. We must either believe the word as it is written or dismiss the word as it is written. If we find that it is ridiculous or preposterous then we can dismiss it and go back to some other form of sanctification. Let’s not try to modify, or tamper with it. Either we accept it as it is written or we dismiss it as it is written.
d. Overcoming. The basis for which we are free from sin is that as Christ is dead, buried and alive, so are we in the same measure, same kind, and same degree indeed.
12. 12, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
a. Praise God that we now have the power to “let not” and the power to “yield not”.
b. This is the first time Paul is actually telling us to do something. Before he was only asking us to know something. And even that knowing was something that he expected that they already knew.
c. Reign. The state of a man without Christ is that sin reigns in his mortal body. The lusts of his flesh have dominion and rule. He follows his carnal lusts whether they be in the mind or flesh. If he doesn’t commit adultery it’s because it is to his advantage and happiness. He doesn’t want to risk losing his wife and children or esteem or extended family or bare the shame. But sin will eventually play out in his life experience. Man must either obey or disobey his fleshly appetites, his lusts in his flesh. There are three flavors of sin, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. All cater to the fleshly, carnal experience. All sin’s revolve around these variants.
d. God expects us to believe things that aren’t as though they were. Why? 1) Because it happened in Christ and God declares it so, 2) Something happens outside the realm of the visual, the evidential, like divine healing the power of God is realized in our experience. Col 2:12 calls it the operation of God; Phil 2:13 calls it the work of God; 2Pet 1:3 calls it the divine power to live godly.
13. 13, 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.
a. Members. Members are your eyes, ears, feet, sexual organs.
b. Yield. There must be a yielding in order to sin. There must be a giving way, an allowing, a conceding ground. God says we can “let not” and “yield not”. If it were not true but just a pretend sanctification, God would be a liar. He would be cruel in his expectation and demand to believe this gospel and live it out in our experience. It would be a lie and not only would God stand indicted, but mankind would stand in opposition by a failed faith and not overcoming. However, this sanctification, this overcoming sin, is expressed by the same act of faith that saved and is the same act of faith that overcomes. God did not leave us with an impractical theoretical salvation that had no provision, no way to overcome, but left us with the Power of God, like divine healing that when sin’s temptation raises it’s ugly head from the dead, I declare I am dead to sin, buried with Christ and am a resurrected, seated, son of God reigning in power, and glory and victory over the world, the flesh and the devil by faith.
c. Alive from the dead. Eph 2:1 “and you who were dead in trespasses and sin…”; Col 2:13 “and you being dead in your sins…”. Remember that without God, I am dead. That before they knew Christ, they were considered dead by God. What changed, God came into them. Yes, the were justified, but now they crossed over from death unto life by way of life entering into the man. Life itself making resident in him. Jn 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the LIFE, no man comes to the Father but by me.” 1Jn 5:12 “ he that hath the Son hath LIFE, he that hath not the Son hath NOT LIFE.”
14. 14, For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
a. Not sin ought not have dominion, not might not, it is not typological. It is a SHALL NOT, like the SHALL NOT’s of the TEN COMMANDMENTS. It carries the same authority, the same magnitude and degree as the law. This word of God is the prescription for overcoming sin. It is the only remedy provided by God so that the Christian man or woman can overcome sin and live in righteousness all their days until death.
15. 15, What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
a. Paul is still answering the indictment in the background to his Jewish opposition. Remember they believed that he was promoting a promiscuous doctrine that people could go on sinning without accountability or responsibility to their creator.
b. Again there is that strongest objection just like in V1 at the beginning of the chapter.
c. In other words, when I died with Christ it released me from the law that bound me in the flesh. Now with my new found freedom from the law, shall I continue sinning because I’m not bound to the law but am under the grace of God? Shall we take advantage of the grace, the forgiveness of sins and therefore indulge ourselves because God will forgive us right? Paul answers this indictment yet another time. God Forbid. Remember the etymological study of this phrase revealed it to be the strongest objection in the Greek.
16. 16, Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
a. Two Know ye not’s. After both of these indictments, Paul responds with a “know ye not”. In other words, how can this be true, don’t you know something… There was something Paul was objecting to based upon a knowing something. The first was how can we continue sinning knowing that we who are “dead to sin” are baptized into Christ’s death and burial. And the result is that I have a new walk, a new manner of living. The second occurrence here says, how shall we continue sinning, don’t you know something… Again there is an objection based upon a knowing something. It is a knowing that if you yield yourself as a servant to obey, the
17. 17, But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18, Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.
a. God is thanked because you used to serve sin, yield to sin, let sin. But now there is a new walk. You have obeyed this form of doctrine delivered unto you. It is in the believing and obeying where victory is known. It is in the not trusting what you see, not believing with your senses but believing what God says.
i. Rom 4:12, And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
ii. 2Co 5:7, (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
b. You used to obey sin resulting in death (dead in sins and trespasses; and you being dead in sins and the uncircumcision of your hearts). You used to yield to sin but having this doctrine, this teaching, this operation and working of God, this divine power which has given us all things for life and godliness that you walk in victory from sin. That you can yield not, that you can let not sin any longer reign. It has been dethroned and put to death and lost all dominion over you.
c. The result is that you are free from sin. Not free to sin, not free in sin, not slave to sin, not dead in sin, but free from sin. It no longer has a hold on you; it no longer has you in its grip but has lost it’s strength as a dead man that has lost all strength in his grip, whose hand slithers off your throat. If it gets at your throat again, its not because he had any strength to do so, you had to pick it up, place it upon your throat and squeeze. There is now no power in the flesh to control you. If you sin, and you are a Christian, you have no excuse to sin, no passport to sin, no indulgences to sin for it has relinquished all holds and authority and dominion over you. If you sin, it is the new man sinning. There is no old man to blame; it is dead. If you sin there is no old nature, that too has perished. What can you blame then? Why do I sin? Why when told I am free still live under bondage? Paul answers that and tells us how to live.
18. 19, I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. 20, For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21, What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
a. Paul is saying that he’s speaking regarding our fleshly experience; he’s doing so because of the sickness of our flesh. He’s saying just like you used to serve sin with abandon, just like you indulged your flesh to your lusts and desires, just like you used to be free from righteousness; in the same way, to the same degree now yield yourselves to do righteousness with the same abandon. With the same careless disregard for right doing that you had before, so now have the careless regard for wrong doing and with full abandon follow righteousness.
19. 22, But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
a. Here it is again, we are free from sin, free from sin, free from sin. Three times this chapter tells us we are free from sin. Don’t look to your experience, don’t look to the evidences of your eyes or feelings; with the same abandon that you used to sin, now believe God and be free from sin.
20. 23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
a. Plain and simple. The paycheck from sin is death. The result of a life in sin is eternal separation from God and a destiny set for the flames of hell. But, in contrary to, to a greater plane and beyond the imagination is the gift of God for hopeless sinners. That gift being eternal life, real living, a life yet to be lived. A rest, a new life, a life yet to be lived, adventures and excitement and thrills and love and joy and peace, where there are no more tears, no more fears, no more frailties and diseases of the body and the infirmity of our flesh. To live in the presence of love itself. To live in a true joy, and a joy that is full. Your happiest day is like mourning, your ecstasies like bitter death, your highest achievements like a child banging his pots thinking himself well. No eye has seen, no ear has heard nor entered into the heart of man or even his imaginations what God has prepared for those whom love him. I compare it to the womb, would you want to go back? There was no sight, no color, no wind upon your face, no hearing the fidelity of sound. No running or jumping or embracing. No tastes, no smells (oxygen is needed). No flavor of barbeque ribs or the smell of the sea. Like as the womb is to the man, to a great degree to an unimaginable comparison is what awaits those who are in Christ.
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