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BAPTISM IN THE BIBLE
a) If there is only one baptism which saves unto eternal life, (cp Eph 4:4-5 + 1: 13-14),
c) then the baptism which saves is Holy Spirit baptism and not water baptism.
a) If baptism is an identification,
b) then water baptism is an identification of some kind.
c) Then water baptism is excluded from what one must do to have eternal life.
[Vines Expository Dictionary, Fleming H. Revell, Old Tappan, NJ, 1981, pp. 96-97]:
NOUN:
"BAPTISMA baptism, consisting of the processes of immersion, submersion and emergence (from baptw, to dip)."
VERB:
"BAPTIZO to baptize, primarily a frequentative form of baptw, to dip, was used among the Greeks to signify the dyeing of a garment, or the drawing of water by dipping a vessel into another, etc. Plutarchus uses it of the drawing of wine by dipping the cup into the bowl
(Alexis, 67) and Plato, metaphorically, of being overwhelmed [immersed] with questions (Euthydemus, 277 D)."
The word "baptism" appears in the New Testament quite often as a translation of the Greek word which is transliterated into English as "baptisma". Every letter in the Greek is transliterated to a corresponding English letter with the last "a" being dropped to provide the more English accommodating pronunciation resulting in the word "baptism". The word "baptism" is therefore a Greek word which has been transliterated and adopted over into the English vocabulary. So the word "baptism" is not a word native to the English language and therefore it has no original meaning as an English word as it appears in Scripture. The only meaning in Scripture that this word has is its intended and original Greek meaning. In the Greek the basic meaning of the word "baptizo", which is the verb form of the noun "baptisma", is to identify. What that baptism-identification depends upon is the context of the passage. The verb form of "baptisma" which is "baptizo" = to baptize is a more frequently used verb form of the very closely related Greek verb "bapto" which means to dip. "Bapto" was used among the Greeks to signify the dyeing of a garment by immersing it in dye, or the drawing of wine by dipping the cup into the bowl. The Greek philosopher Plato, (Euthydemus, 277 AD), used the word "bapto" in a metaphorical sense to describe the condition of being overwhelmed - inundated, immersed in questions. The word "bapto" has the same meaning as "baptizo", but it is in a different form. This word, for example, is used in Lk 16:24:
"And he [the rich man who is in the Torments compartment of Hades] cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.' "
"bapsE" = "may dip", aorist, active voice, subjunctive mood =
"that he may dip"
The rich man was asking Abraham that Lazarus may be permitted to "bapsE" his finger in water and bring it over to him and place it on the rich man's tongue. The form of the verb "bapto" here could only mean 'to place into' or 'to immerse'. So "bapto" and "baptizo" both mean 'to place into.'
"Jesus answered, 'He [the one who will betray Me] it is, to whom I shall give a sop, [a piece of bread covered with sauce] , when I have dipped it. And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon."
"I [will] have dipped" = "bapsO" = future, indicative
"He had dipped" = [The] one having dipped" = "bapsas", aorist participle for noun
Jesus says in this verse, 'I am going to identify the traitor among us by handing to him this morsel of food that I am about to dip [future tense] here in the sauce.' And then He became the one dipping the morsel [aorist participle for noun]. The words used to describe the action of placing the bread in the sauce are the respective forms of the verb "bapto", which means to place into, to dip into.
"And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called the Word of God."
The Greek word translated into the English "dipped" is again the proper form of the verb "bapto" meaning placed into blood.
Homer, the poet, in the 'Odyssey' compares the hissing of the burning eye of the cyclops with the sound that water makes when a blacksmith places - 'baptizes' - a hot iron in water in order to temper the metal. The word that Homer uses is the Greek word for baptize in order to describe the action of immersing the hot metal into the water which results in a hissing sound. Homer uses this baptism as an analogy to compare what happened when the eye of the cyclops was stabbed. The Odyssey also refers to a character named Lucien who dreams that he has seen a huge bird that has been shot with a mighty arrow and as it flies high its blood drips out upon the clouds and the word that Homer uses to describe this covering of the cloud with the blood of the bird is the Greek word for baptize. The bird baptized the cloud with its blood - the cloud was inundated, i.e., immersed with the blood which flowed profusely from the giant wounded bird. In the other writing of Homer, 'The 'Iliad', we have a wounded soldier who is said to baptize the earth with his blood - that is his blood is covering the earth. The word used is the Greek for the word baptize. Another Greek writer Euryipedes uses the Greek word for baptize to describe a ship which sinks permanently below the surface. Another Greek writer 'Zenophen' in his composition called the 'Anabasis' uses the word baptize to describe Greek soldiers who, before the battle, gather around and dip the points of their spears in blood. The author describes the dipping of the spear points in the blood as baptizing the points of the spear. We have the word baptize in secular writings that describe a person that is being overwhelmed, i.e., a person who is submerged in calamities. The Septuagint translation, (the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek), which was done after the classical Greek period, translates Lev 24:6 in a way which sheds light on the meaning of the Greek verb "bapto":
"And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood"
"blood" = the sacrificial blood which has been gathered.
"And the priest shall dip" =
"dip" = The English translation for the Greek word for "baptize" which is used to translate the Hebrew word meaning dip in this Old Testament verse. Notice that the Hebrew word which is translated "sprinkle" later on in this verse is definitely not translated baptize in the Greek Septuagint because there is a separate Greek word for sprinkle. This indicates that the word baptize meant placing into something. So putting of this all together we have the meaning of the word baptize:
To place into or to introduce into and this is all that this word means. So baptism in Scripture is often said to do something that a ritual obviously cannot perform - like:
"Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?"
In light of what the word baptism means, Ro 6:3 above cannot portray a ritual of water baptism but rather an actual identification of a believer with Christ and His death by some means other than immersion into water, (answer: and that means is by the Holy Spirit).
"They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings ["baptismois"] - external regulations applying until the time of the new order."
Here we have the noun form "baptismois" from the basic noun "baptisma" from which we get our word baptism. Here in Hebrews 9:10 the word is used to describe ceremonial washings required by the rituals of Judaism which describes an item which is immersed beneath water and then the object was shaken off. This describes a ceremonial washing.
(v. 1) "The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the Law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and
(v. 2) saw some of His disciples eating food with hands that were 'unclean', that is unwashed.
(v. 3) (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.
(v. 4) When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)
"washing" = "baptismous"
This passage uses the
word "baptismous", a form of the key noun "baptisma",
to describe the ceremonial washings of cups and pots and brass vessels and
tables (= "klinOn" = Str. # 2825, lit. small immersible dining
couches or pillows 
).
This involves an immersion into water. And of course the word "baptisma"
is used of the ceremony of water baptism: Compare Mt 3:7; 3:16; Jn 4:1;
Acts 16:33; I Cor 1:14. So on the basis of what we have seen, when the New
Testament speaks of the ceremony of water baptism the word baptism must
mean placing into. A person is placed into, i.e., introduced into, water
when he is baptized. And this is all the word means. It does not mean
sprinkle and it provides nothing more than an identification - an
immersion - into whatever the context describes. In the case of water
baptism the identification or immersion is water and water alone. (The
symbolic significance however is one of recognizing that one has already
been identified with Jesus Christ and what He did on the cross). The
dipping into - the placing into - is to identify one object with another
so that a relationship has been changed from its original state. So when
the word "baptizo" = to baptize is used it signifies that one
thing is so identified with another that the nature of the character of
the former is changed.
Dr. John Danish states in tape #76Ro 66 entitled "Death Through Baptism No. 3, Romans 6:3-4", 1976:
"Here is thing 'A' and here is thing 'B'. Thing 'B' has a character as 'B'. But 'B' is identified with 'A' in such a way that the result is 'AB' - a totally different character than that which it originally was. 'B' is identified with 'A' that 'B' is no longer as it once was. Its character or position or quality has been changed in some way so that it now is 'AB'. It is a different thing........
....Now the word baptism may symbolize a real change that has already taken place, or it may symbolize something that is going to take place. From classical usage and from the usage of the language of the Greek New Testament as it was used on the streets of the New Testament world which we call the koine or the common Greek language, the basic concept of baptize is to immerse - identification as the result of immersing. So in other words, you have 'B' being immersed into 'A' so that the result is something totally different 'AB', a combination."
SEVEN MAJOR BAPTISMS IN THE BIBLE
In Scripture there are seven major baptisms which fall into two different kinds:
Four dry baptisms which are real baptisms - real identifications and real changes.
Three wet baptisms which are symbolic of an actual event which has already taken or will take place.
(v. 1) "For I [Paul] do not want you [fellow Jews] to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers [our ancestors: Jews who lived in the Exodus generation when they escaped out of Egypt] were all under the cloud."
["under the cloud" = the cloud which led them to freedom from Egypt and then through the wilderness as a guide by day, (Ex 13:21). This cloud that was present at the Red Sea when the Exodus generation of Jews came to the shore of that sea and were going to cross - this cloud was the evidence of the glory of God - of His Almighty power. The Jews described this as the shekinah glory of God in their commentary writings on the Old Testament called the Targums.
(v. 21) "By day the Lord went ahead of them [the escaping Israelites] in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
(v. 22) Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people."
The Jewish people became identified with the shekinah glory of God - of Jesus Christ, (1 Cor 10:4) - day and night, night and day. That cloud was a manifestation of the Lord God Himself - His visible glory. The Jews called this God's shekinah glory. The shekinah glory of God, the manifested glory of God, was identified with God's Chosen People Israel:
"The people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory [the shekinah glory of God], the covenants, the receiving of the Law, the temple worship and the promises."
A cont.) [1 Cor 10:1-2 cont.]:
(v. 1 cont.) "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the [Red] Sea" [to freedom]
(v. 2) and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud [in the glory of God] and in the sea"
"baptized with Moses" = means that they were identified with Moses in some respect.
"and all [the Jews] were baptized into Moses in the cloud [in the glory of God] and in the sea" =
All the Jews of the Exodus generation were identified with Moses as God's chosen people and God's chosen man to lead them. Moses and the Exodus generation Jewish people were baptized in the cloud and the sea - identified with God in His manifestation of Himself as the cloud and they were also identified with Moses leading them through the sea in the event of their escaping through it from the Egyptians.
[Dr. John Danish states it this way, (op cit)]:
"[The Jews were] identified with the glory of God which was present there among them. While passing through the miracle of the Red Sea, they were identified with Moses in the experience of walking dry shod through that sea and escaping the approaching attacking forces of Pharoah."
The Jews were identified with the shekinah glory of God as our Lord Jesus Christ led them by day manifesting Himself in the cloud and by night manifesting Himself in the pillar of fire:
A cont.) [1 Cor 10:1-3 cont.]:
(v. 2) "They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
(v. 3) They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, [that Rock Who was the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night] and that Rock was Christ."
So the baptism of Moses was a baptism that identified the Exodus generation of Jews with Moses with respect to the freedom to which they were being led and it identified them with the leadership of the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of the shekinah glory cloud - He was their God and they were His people:
(v. 6) " 'Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
(v. 7) Then I will take you from My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians."
"Then I will take you from My people, and I will be your God" =
Ever since those ancient times, the people of Israel have been identified with the One and only Creator God of the universe - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God has been identified with them.
II) THE BAPTISM OF THE CROSS - OF CHRIST BEARING THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD.
(v. 4) "Surely He [Jesus Christ] took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted.
(v. 5) But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are [to be spiritually] healed [of iniquities - of sin]
(v. 6) We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord [God the Father] has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Notice the words, "upon Him" and "has laid on Him" indicating a immersing of our Lord into - or an identification of our Lord with - a baptism in - the sins of the whole world:"the iniquity of us all." Compare 1 John 2:2.
"And He Himself [Jesus Christ] bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to [the control of the] sin [nature] and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed [of sin]."
"For He hath made Him Who knew no sin to be sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him."
Notice the words, "to be sin for us." which signify an identification of our Lord with the sins of the whole world.
These verses explain the nature of the baptism of the cross: the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin. Sin was laid upon Him by God the Father. He had became immersed in, He had become identified with, He had been baptized in the sins of the whole world, past present and future.
The gospels of Matthew and Mark refer to this baptism specifically:
D) [Mk 10:35-39, (cp Mt 20:20-23a)]:
(v. 35) Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Him. 'Teacher,' they said, 'We want You to do for us whatever we ask.'
(v. 36) 'What do you want Me to do for you?' He asked.
(v. 37) They replied, 'Let one of us sit at your right and the other at Your left in Your glory.'
(v. 38) 'You don't know what you are asking' Jesus said. 'Can you drink [from] the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"
[Jesus is saying, 'Can you indeed suffer on the cross for the sins of the whole world, become totally immersed in the evil of the world - for the sake of righteousness?' Jesus Christ is about to go to the cross. He is going to become identified with, i.e., baptized with the sins of the whole world. He is not talking about water baptism here. He is talking about some kind of baptism which is about to come upon Him, and He is asking the disciples James and John, who are looking for a special place of authority in His kingdom, 'Are you able to bear this baptism that I am about to experience.']
"Going a little farther, He [Jesus] fell with His face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it be possible, may this cup be taken from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.' "
"Jesus therefore said to Peter, 'Put the sword into the sheath; the cup; which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?'"
The cup in the aforementioned verses refers to the cross - the cup of suffering - the cup of being made sin. He Who knew no sin became sin for us in order to pay for the sins of the whole world. So the Father's wrath would fall upon the Son as He bore the sins of the world. (Cp Isa 53:4-6).
Here Jesus Christ is identified - is baptized - with our sins. And He is identified with those sins in His work on the cross. So the baptism of the cross - the "cup", i.e., the baptism that Jesus was describing in these verses is the baptism of having the sins of the world engulf Him. The evil of the world, its sins and even the evil of human originated "good" [actions done for "good" which are outside of the sovereignty of God] are placed upon Him so that He was actually immersed in evil. He was identified with evil by God the Father, (Isa 53:5-6; 10). The word baptism, when you think of it as identification, causes the expression, 'the baptism of the cross' to now make sense. Christ was identified with the cross which represented the penalty for the sins of the whole world.
III) BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - THE BAPTISM THAT SAVES YOU
The baptism of the Holy Spirit began at the time of the Jewish feast of Pentecost 2000 years ago as written about in the book of Acts:
A) HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM HISTORICALLY BEGAN AT PENTECOST
(v. 15) "As I [Peter] began to speak the Holy Spirit came on them [the Gentiles] as He had come on us at the beginning [at Pentecost, Acts 2:1-21]
(v. 16) Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' "
Charles C Ryrie states in "Biblical Theology of the New Testament", Moody Press, 1959, p. 120: "Although it is not expressly recorded in Acts 2 that the baptism of the Spirit occurred on the Day of Pentecost, it is said in Acts 11:15-16 that it did happen then in fulfillment of the promise of the Lord. However, it is Paul who explains that this baptism places people in the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). In other words, on the Day of Pentecost men were first put into the Body of Christ."
(v. 13) "And you also were included in [i.e., baptized - identified with] Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
(v. 14) Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of His glory."
"Did you receive the Spirit by observing the Law, or by believing what you heard?"
[Answer as determined by context and grammar: all people receive the Spirit by believing - in Christ as Savior, (Gal 2:15-21)]
(v. 12) "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ
(v. 13) For by one Spirit [by one God the Holy Spirit] were we [Christians - all of us] baptized into one body [the body of Christ - the church] whether we be Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and have all been made to drink of one Spirit."
"And have all been made to drink of one Spirit." =
This means that we Christians are all indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us in verse 12 of 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that the body of Christ is the church; that this body is one, that it has many individual members, that these members are all members of one body, and that this body is Christ. Then verse 13 tells one living in the church age how to get into that body: as the result of a baptism called the baptism of the Holy Spirit which is received by faith alone in Christ alone as explained in Eph 1:13-14.
Since the baptism of the Holy Spirit comes automatically for the church age believer at the point of salvation - at the moment that that person has expressed a trust in Christ as Savior, he does not need to seek an additional experience.
Furthermore, one does not
experience it in one's conscious mind. It is non experiential in the sense
that there is not an awareness in the individual of something having
happened - a feeling or even a thought - at the moment that one is
permanently indwelt with God the Holy Spirit. Today a believer has no
scripturally prescribed evidence of it to accompany Holy Spirit baptism
when it does occur except the evidence that God's Word says that it
happened at the point of believing in Christ - at the point of salvation
for the church age believer, (Jn 7:37-38; Eph 1:13-14; Gal 3:2: 1 Cor
12:13). On the other hand, during the early period of the church age - for
approximately 100 years - the believers who legitimately received the sign
and wonder gifts and who exercised them provided evidence that they had
been indwelt by the Spirit, (Acts chapters 2-5, 8, 10-12, 14, 16, 18-21,
23, 28). Today these gifts are no longer being truly received and
exercised [].
The baptism of the Holy Spirit means that you who are living in the church age have been uniquely joined to Christ. This is described in Acts 1:5; Ro 6:3-4, Col 2:12; Eph 4:5.
C) HOLY SPIRIT BAPTISM IS ALWAYS IN THE PASSIVE VOICE RELATIVE TO THE CONTRIBUTION OF MAN
Notice that the baptized verbs are in the passive voice which points to Holy Spirit baptism or when one is water baptized by another:
Surveying the Book of Acts, one can find that: --- when Man is doing the Baptizing, the active voice is used. --- when man is being baptized, water or Holy Spirit baptism, the middle or passive voice is used. --- and when man is commanded to be baptized, both the middle and passive voice is used.Thoughout the New Testament, we must determine from the context whether "baptism" is water baptism by man, or baptism by the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, Holy Spirit baptism is always in the passive voice.
[The following is an excerpt
from the study on ROMANS CHAPTER 6 covering the subject of Holy Spirit
baptism []:
(v. 1) "What shall we say, then? Are we to remain in sin that grace may be abounding?
(v. 2) Far be the thought! Such ones as we, - who died to sin! how shall we any longer be living in it?"
"epimenoumen [pres, act, subj] ........te hamartia [dative case]" =
"are we to remain....................................in sin" ..................=
[Newell, op. cit., p. 201]:
"It is what is called the deliberative subjunctive here: 'May we?' or 'Should we?' [or 'Shall we?']. But best rendered in English by the form we have chosen: 'Are we to - is such the path?' "
Verse 6:1 states the false objection in the form of a question: 'one may say that if one is saved by grace alone through faith alone, then one can choose to continue "in sin", i.e., remain under the absolute control of the sin nature; and the more that one evidenced this control over him by committing evil acts, the more God's grace would increase to provide for forgiveness of that continuance as a result of the continued control of the individual by the sin nature. Thus objectors to free grace salvation by faith alone would falsely state that if faith in Christ were the only condition whereby one is to be saved then believers would be encouraged to keep on sinning'.
[Newell, ibid]:
"This question arises constantly, both in uninstructed believers, and in blind unbelievers. The message of simple grace, apart from all works, to the poor natural heart of man seems wholly inconsistent and impossible. 'Why!' people say 'If where sin abounds grace overflows, then the more sin, the more grace.' So the unbeliever rejects the grace plan.
Moreover, the uninstructed Christian also is afraid; for he says, 'If we are in a reign of pure grace, what will control our conscious evil tendencies? We fear such utter freedom. Put us under 'rules for holy living,' and we can get along.'
Another sad fact is that some professing Christians welcome the 'abounding grace' doctrine because of the liberty they feel it gives to things in their daily lives which they know, or could know, to be wrong."
[Everett F. Harrison states, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol 10, Frank E. Gaebelien, Editor, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1976, p. 68]:
"It is notable that Paul begins this discussion by raising an objection and answering it. The objection grows out of his presentation of justification, especially the teaching that where sin increased, grace increased all the more (5:20). The query, then, is to this effect: 'Are we not able, or even obliged, by the logic of justification, to continue on in sin, now that we are Christians, in order to give divine grace as much opportunity as possible to display itself? The more we sin, the more will God's grace be required to meet the situation, and this will in turn contribute the more to His glory.'
I cont.) [Ro 6:1-2 cont.]:
(v. 1) "What shall we say, then? Are we to remain in sin that grace may be abounding?
(v. 2) Far be the thought! Such ones as we, - who died to sin! how shall we any longer be living in it?"
"Far be the thought!" = "may it not be" [NIV] = "me_genoito" =
This is the strongest of negatives in the Greek and in this context it says, 'The thought is absolutely unthinkable because it is illogical.' Paul states in verse 2 that a believer has died once and for all to the authority of the old sin nature. It is actually not possible that a born again believer could lead a lifestyle such that it is under the complete and absolute control of the sin nature since God has placed the believer under His control now: the Holy Spirit's.
I cont.) [Ro 6:1-2 cont.]:
(v. 1) "What shall we say, then? Are we to remain in sin that grace may be abounding?
(v. 2) Far be the thought! Such ones as we, - who died to sin! how shall we any longer be living in it?'
"Such ones as we, - who died to sin" =
[William R. Newell states, "ROMANS VERSE ~ BY ~ VERSE" , Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1994, p. 201]:
"Here we have... "such ones as we" (hoitines). This is more than a relative pronoun: it is a pronoun of characterization, 'placing those referred to in a class' (Lightfoot). Paul thus has before his mind all Christians, and he places this pronoun at the very beginning: 'such ones as we!' "
"sin" = singular = old sin nature. Scripture indicates that no believer will be sinless in this life, (1 Jn 1:8, 10). The plural word, 'sins' refers in Scripture to acts of sin. The word sin here, (singular) refers to that which is in man which generates those acts of sin = the 'sin nature', the 'flesh', the 'old man'.
''who died to sin" = have become unable to respond in such a way that one is under the absolute authority, i.e., the slavery of the sin nature - such that everything one does, even the 'good' things need be no longer motivated and contaminated by the indwelling sin nature.
[Newell, Ibid, p. 201]:
"He [Paul] characterizes all Christians as those 'who died.' The translation, 'are dead' is wrong, for the tense of the Greek verb is the aorist, which denotes not a state but a past act or fact. It never refers to an action as going on or prolonged. As Winer says, 'The aorist states a fact as something having taken place.' Note how strikingly and repeatedly this tense is used in this chapter as referring to the death of which the apostle speaks: Mark most particularly that the apostle in verse 2 does not call upon Christians to die to sin, but asserts that they shared Christ's death, they died to sin!"
Previously, in verse 5:21 we learned that the old sin nature in the individual reigned in death in the unsaved man's life, but now the believer is no longer under that reign; he has died, i.e., become separated from the rule of death of the sin nature through the grace of God through the righteousness of Jesus Christ:
(v. 21) "So that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
(v. 6) "For we know that our old man [the sin nature] was crucified with Him [i.e., "we died to sin", (Ro 6:2)] so that the body of sin [i.e., the sin nature] might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
[Notice that the death to sin is not extinction of sin in one's life but separation from one's slavery to the sin nature]:
(v. 7) because anyone who has died [been separated from the control of] has been freed from sin."
Just as an automobile can be described as having a dead battery, i.e., it has 'died to its battery', when that battery which is located in the car is no longer in charge of providing an electrical charge to start the engine;
so in the same way an individual can be described as having 'died to sin', when that sin nature which is located in that individual is no longer in charge of the lifestyle of the individual such that his behavior is evil all the time...
[while the sin nature is in charge, even the good that that individual does is contaminated with motivations coming out of the sin nature, (Isa 64:6)]
...so the individual is now "dead to sin" in the sense of no longer being subject to the rulership/control of the indwelling sin nature in everything he does.
However, just as one can choose to recharge the dead battery so that it can be in 'charge' again, so the believer can choose to re-enslave himself to his sin nature but now with a new arrangement:
The believer's voluntary enslavement is now under the overall sovereign rule of God the Holy Spirit Who reigns supreme in the believer's life no matter what the circumstances or choices that that believer makes:
(v. 9) "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
[and all believers have the Spirit of God living in them, (Eph 1:13-14) - so all are under the control of the Holy Spirit]
(v. 10) But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin [i.e., the believer is separated from the absolute control of the sin nature], yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness."
"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, [any rules of human conduct relative to salvation] but under [God's sovereign rule of] grace."
Paul reiterates here that believers are not under the sovereign control of the sin nature but under God's sovereign rule of grace
So if the child of God is unfaithful he will be made subject to God's discipline until he repents via the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in him, (cp Heb 12:4-13).
So Paul answers in verse 1, the false objection that people make when they say if an individual is saved by faith alone through grace alone without having to commit to some kind of 'holy' lifestyle then that individual would freely, i.e., without consequence, continue in sin in all that he does and all the more, i.e., he has a license to sin = he is still under the control of his old sin nature. Paul says, "By no means" (NIV) or "God forbid" (KJV), "me-genoito" = lit., "not happened" or "may it not be". Then he states that a Christian has died once and for all to the absolute authority of the old sin nature in his life.
Before this death to the sin nature, everything the individual did, even human good, was directed and contaminated by the sin nature:
"All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."
"When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness."
But now, once one becomes a believer, Paul says, 'How is it even possible that a believer who died to sin be living under its sovereign control any longer?' Recall that death always means separation never extinction. In the case in Ro 6:2, one is separated from the control of the old sin nature but this does not mean the extinction of the old sin nature within one (ref. Ro 7:21-25), nor does it mean that one cannot reenslave oneself to it. But that sin nature can never again be in absolute control of that individual; for the child of God is now under the absolute sovereignty of God the Holy Spirit through Holy Spirit Baptism:
(v. 22) "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires
[Christians are commanded to
put off - to forsake - their natural tendency to sin - their old sin
nature - their "old self". This is to say that believers do
retain their old sin natures, "your former way of life...your old
self", which they must contend with daily, (Ro chapter 7)
].
(v. 23) to be made new in
the attitude of your minds [ cref. Ro 12:2];
(v. 24) and to put on the [brand] new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
The Christian as he grows
spiritually develops increased control over the old sin nature "through
the washing of the Water by the Word" = via the submission to the
Word and the work of God the Holy Spirit in him, (Eph 5:25, "water"
= the Spirit), permitting God the Holy Spirit to fill = control him, (Eph
5:5-18) .
In doing this the Christian is able to more effectively resist the ever
present temptation to give temporary control of himself to the sin nature,
(Eph 4:17-5:21). All of the disorientation, the confusion, the spiritual
deceit that flows out of the sin nature is thus neutralized during the
moments when the believer is controlled, i.e., filled with the Spirit",
(Eph chapter five).
"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?"
"Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?" =
"Or" = This conjunction begins an all important point relative to the believer's choice of lifestyles - a point about him being baptized into Christ, into His death, burial and resurrection so that that believer could choose to live a new & godly life.
"baptized" = "ebaptisthemen" = were baptized = 'were placed, (passive voice), into a position of His death.'
So the individual of the church age Who has trusted alone in Christ alone has died to the absolute authority of the old sin nature by means of baptism - Holy Spirit baptism.
This could not be the active action of believer's water baptism since the verb "were baptized" is in the passive voice, i.e., God the Holy Spirit provided the action. The believer's part in this particular kind of baptism is passive. Furthermore, Ro 6:4 indicates that the action of being baptized produced the result in the believer of being actually, not symbolically, identified with the death, burial & resurrection of our Lord. So the believer now through Holy Spirit baptism can lead a new & godly life. Believer's water baptism cannot do this, only God's action can.
Recall that the Holy Spirit is received by the church age believer at the point of faith alone in Christ alone as Savior, (Eph 1:13-14). Holy Spirit baptism places the individual into Christ identifying the believer with what our Lord accomplished on the cross - this happening at the point of faith alone in Christ alone unto eternal life, (Eph 1:13-14). So the believer is completely credited with the forgiveness of all his sins, past, present and future.
2) THIS BAPTISM INTO CHRIST CREDITS ALL BELIEVERS WITH THE ABSOLUTE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD'S SON
This Holy Spirit baptism
takes you as a guilty sinner and identifies you in such a way with Jesus
Christ that when Almighty God looks upon you He no longer sees you alone
but He sees you clothed in the perfections of the absolute righteousness
of His Son, (Ro 3:21-22
This kind of baptism satisfies the integrity and the justice of God against you, (Ro 3:26), so that you are related to Jesus Christ in such a way that God has no fault with you anymore - there is no guilt that He holds against you for sins, (Ro 3:21-31).
When an individual is referred to in Scripture as being baptized in the Holy Spirit, as in the passage in Romans chapter 6:1-4, the verb is always in the passive voice relative to the individual indicating that the person who is baptized by the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with it - it is God and God alone Who accomplishes this task. This rules out believer's water baptism which is an active voice action.
Note that the doctrine of the total and exclusive sovereignty of God in the work of a person's salvation is taught throughout the Bible, (cp Eph 1:3-14).
Holy Spirit Baptism is something that is done to a person, hence the passive voice when it is referred to in Scripture. The person simply receives the action by God the Holy Spirit of being placed into Christ and receiving all the benefits of His dying on the cross - all of this occurring at the point of faith. Paul points out in Romans 6:3, (as well as in 1 Cor 12:13 and Gal 3:2), that this baptism has been experienced by every believer.
So when God the Holy Spirit baptizes a believer into Christ He also terminates the absolute control of the old sin nature over that Christian.
"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.'
Dr. John Danish states, audio tape of sermon 2/25/96:
"Therefore.... [refers back to the previous context, especially vv. 1 and 5]:
Verse 1 says that if the earthly tent, that is your human body, which is our house is torn down - that means you die - we have a building from God, a house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. You have a heavenly body that you enter upon death. And you enter a marvelous place of blessing when that happens...
Then in verse 5, he says [that] the Holy Spirit indwells every believer as a token or down payment of God's promise to take us to heaven when we accept His salvation...
"Now He Who prepared us for this very purpose [of going into heaven in this super body, v. 1] is God, Who gave to us the Spirit as a down payment."
(v. 13) "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
(v. 14) Who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of His glory."
The reason the Holy Spirit indwells every believer is because it is God's seal, His stamp.... You're not going anywhere except to heaven... God's grace will not be frustrated by anything that man does once you have committed yourself to what God has given you...
Then in verse 6 God Himself makes it certain that if we leave our bodies, we go to be with the Lord:
"Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord -"
So now we come to the greatest example and the demonstration of the grace of God in verse 17:
a cont.) [2 Cor 5:17 cont.]:
"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.']
Verse 17 reaches a conclusion based on verses 1 through 16. And so we begin with this word, 'Therefore'. It means, 'So that'. It indicates a conclusion about grace provisions... ['if' =] since...
['any man' =] any one, man or woman...
['in Christ' =
"For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit."]
We get into Christ at the point of our faith in Christ. That's when you receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that's what water baptism is a symbol and a sign of - that you have been placed into Jesus Christ and that's why you are eternally secure.
You can never be removed from Him. You cannot remove yourself, God cannot remove you, man cannot remove you - you are in Christ. It's an expression indicating that one is saved. It is an expression which is particularly used in the New Testament Age of the Church. They didn't talk like that in the Old Testament. In the New Testament it is a [phrase] which is commonly understood... [to mean] to be saved....
In the book of Romans the Apostle Paul says that he who.... is not indwelt by Christ is none of His - making it very clear that if Christ does not indwell you, [then] you don't belong to Him - meaning, 'You're not a Christian'. Nobody can be a Christian without first having been baptized into Him by the baptism of the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation. So 'In Christ' is referring to a believer...
(v. 27) "For all of you who were baptized into Christ [i.e., all of you who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit] have clothed yourselves with Christ.
(v. 28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
Once you are in Christ as a saved person, there is no racial, there is no national, there is no gender difference. Everybody is [one] in Christ... So God sees us as part of His Son...
This [being] placed in Christ is... our positional place. And that means [that] we have positional sanctification. Sanctification means [that] you are absolutely perfect in God's sight - as perfect as Jesus Christ... It is all based upon the Grace of God [not on anything one does]...
a cont.) [2 Cor 5:17 cont.]:
"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.'
Now this word 'creation' is stressed because it... has no verb [italics above indicate no verb is in the Greek text]... Being in Christ means to be born again making us a new creation. We are not new creatures because of something we do or don't do.... This verse has to do with what God in His grace has done for us, not what we do for Him or for ourselves...
["new = "kaino"]
means... a new kind, a new species. What this word is saying is that Christians in the Church Age, of the Age of Grace, are a new species of human beings in God's Creation.... [Cp Gal 3:27-28 above]
And this new species began on the Day of Pentecost with the baptism of the Holy Spirit when [God] joined all believers together into one body called the Church...
(v. 22) "And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church,
(v. 23) which is His body, the fulness of Him Who fills all in all."
The Christian is a new creature, a new species. He becomes that automatically at the point of salvation when he is placed into Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And that's what this newness is all about. Not that he is going to behave himself. Not that he is going to stop sinning...
["creation" = "ktisis"]
This word means creation, a new kind in God's order of creation... God's unique new breed in God's creation...
["the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."]
These are not the ways and experiences of our unsaved days... but of our days in spiritual death under enslavement to the old sin nature...
["old" = "archaia"]
[The word "old" here] means that it existed from old times all the way from the beginning...
["passed away" = "parelthen"]
This word [which is translated as 'passed away' in the Greek Bible... is stated in a way that means [that] it came to an abrupt end. It didn't just gradually fade away... [So] it can't be your conduct which gradually might become better... 'Passed away' is an abrupt action...
["have become" = gegonen]
[This verb is in the] perfect tense... [which] means that at some point in the past something happens and the results of that continues forever and ever and never stops... You have become a new creation in Christ Jesus and because [of] this tense it tells us that it starts and can never stop. That's another evidence that you can never lose your salvation..."
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into [His] death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
The death of Christ provides the believer with the new freedom to choose to live a new and godly life or revert to slavery to the old ungodly one. So verse 4 in Romans chapter 6 verifies that this union with Jesus Christ via Holy Spirit baptism means that the believer is credited with sharing the benefits of Christ's death, burial and resurrection which includes complete forgiveness, the crediting to him of the righteousness of Christ and the provision of the enablement to live a new and godly life.
III cont.) [Ro 6:4 cont.]:
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into [His] death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into [His] death" =
This verse is saying, 'We
believers were therefore entombed with Him by means of this being placed
into His death.' Through Holy Spirit baptism, the believer also died in
reference to the absolute authority of the old sin nature over him. It is
God telling the Christian through His Word that the Christian has been
placed into the death of Christ so as to have a position of union with the
Son of God which accrues to the Christian - in a finite sense - everything
that Christ is and everything that Christ has done in a way that can never
be severed from him. Grace has given it to him and grace will never take
it away. What one has earned one can lose, but what God's grace, His
unmerited favor, has given as a free gift, can never be lost. So a second
baptism is not something that is going to happen to a believer after he
has become a believer; nor something that he ought to seek to have happen
to him as if it had already occurred. No, the believer has already had it
done to him by the Holy Spirit when he placed his trust alone in Jesus
Christ alone for eternal life, (Eph 1:13-14). Paul says in Romans 6:4 that
a believer has already been crucified with Christ at that
'once-for-all-time' point in his life when he trusted alone in Christ
alone as Savior. Refer to what Paul states in Romans chapter 3 when he
indicates that those who received the gift of Christ's perfect
righteousness by trusting in Him, received that gift solely as a result of
Who our Lord is and what He did on the cross which was to die for the sins
of the whole world: all people - all their sins. Compare Romans 3:21-3:31
[].
[Everett F. Harrison states, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Vol. 10, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Frank E. Gaebelein, Gen. Ed., p. 68-69]:
"In this section [Ro 6:1-14] we will see that Christ passed through certain epochal experiences - namely, death, burial, and resurrection. Viewed from the standpoint of His substitutionary sacrifice for sin, these events do not involve our participation, though our salvation depends on them. Our Lord was alone in enduring the cross, in being buried, and in being raised from the dead. But His redeeming work is not only substitutionary; it is also representative. 'One died for all, and therefore all died' (2 Cor 5:14). So Christians are viewed as being identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. And as truly as He, having borne our sin, is now removed from any claim of sin against Him - because He died to sin and rose again - we also by virtue of being joined to Him [in Holy Spirit baptism] are delivered from any claim of sin to control us. This line of thought is what Paul proceeds to develop in the passage before us. It is evident that God has a plan for dealing with the power of sin as well as with its guilt. The way has been prepared for this emphasis by the presentation of the solidarity between Christ and the redeemed in 5:12-21....
The importance of burial is that it attests the reality of death (1 Cor 15:3, 4). It expresses with finality the end of the old life governed by relationship with Adam. It also expresses the impossibility of a new life apart from divine action."
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me."
The basic thought here is that Paul and all believers are crucified with Christ. That is the individual's new position when he becomes a believer. This is what the baptism of God the Holy Spirit is all about: it is a position which God has placed an individual in when he becomes a believer.
III cont.) [Ro 6:4 cont.]:
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we too may live a new life."
"in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we too may live a new life" =
"in order that" = "hina" = in order that. Paul is going to introduce a purpose for the believer having been buried with Christ through Holy Spirit baptism.
Note that the kind of baptism which is portrayed here is a passive one relative to the believer's participation. Yet this kind of baptism places the individual into Christ, identifies the believer with the death, burial & resurrection of our Lord and provides the believer with the capacity to live a new and godly life. Therefore this could not be believer's water baptism; it must be Holy Spirit baptism. Only God can do these things to the believer.
"just as" = "hosper" = 'as a thing is true on one side.
This word introduces the first part of a comparison between two ideas:
Then on the other side of this comparison comes the word "houtos" translated as "so" or "even so". This word indicates that after it comes the conclusion.
So we started with "hosper" = "just as" indicating the first part of this comparison:
"Just as Christ was raised [up] from the dead through the glory of the Father"
"was raised [up]" = " egerthe" =
This word refers to the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ. It is in the aorist tense which defines the action as occurring at a point of time in the past - on that Resurrection Sunday morning when Christ Himself rose from the dead. Our Lord's body was resurrected, raised up physically as a sinless body which is a pattern of the bodies that we believers are going to have, (1 Cor 15:49). The verb is also in the passive voice which indicates that Jesus Christ in His dead humanity, (His deity can never die), was raised from the dead by God the Father, (Ro 4:25). This physical raising up from the dead of our Lord indicates that God the Father is satisfied with the payment of the penalty for the sins of the world by Jesus Christ; otherwise God the Father would not have raised our Lord up at all.
"was raised [up] from [the] dead............." =
"from" = from, indicating source.
"[the] dead" = "nekron", adjective used for noun = physical death
III cont.) [Ro 6:4 cont.]:
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
"just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father" =
D) CHRIST WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD AS A RESULT OF GOD'S GLORIOUSLY OMNIPOTENT POWER
"through" = "dia" = "by means of" = preposition indicating that Christ was raised from the dead by the means of the glory of God
"glory" = "doxEs" = the possession of honor because of something uniquely intrinsic about the One receiving the glory. Here "glory" refers to the honor of God. God has honor and glory because of Who He is. This verse is specifically referring to the glory of God the Father in His action of raising Jesus Christ as expressed through His almighty power - his omnipotence which demonstrated His glory, (1 Cor 6:14; 2 Cor 13:4; Ro 4:24-25, Col 1:11).
III cont.) [Ro 6:4 cont.]:
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into [His] death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
[So, on the one hand] "Just as Christ was raised up from the death by the power [the omnipotence] of the Father, even so..." =
And now we come to the "houtos" = "even so" part which is the conclusion of this comparative statement.
"just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." =
"outos kai .nmeis en kainoteti
"so .....also we .....in .newness..
zoes ....peripatesomen.[1 pers pl, aorist, active voice, subjunctive]
of life .should walk
The KJV renders a more literal translation of the Greek in this part of verse 4: "even so we also should walk in newness of life."
"walk" = "peripatesomen" = word used figuratively to signify the whole round of activities of one's lifestyle. Aorist tense - indicating one's life viewed as a whole with emphasis on results. It is active - a lifestyle which is chosen by the believer to walk in. Subjunctive mood - a potential mood which signifies in this context that the death of Jesus Christ makes the choice of walking in newness of life a possibility but not a certainty. The death of Jesus Christ makes it possible for the believer, i.e., the one who has been baptized into Christ's death, to have a new moral freedom to live a godly life. But, as Scripture reflects, this capacity for godly living is one which Christians often do not exemplify due to their constant failure of succumbing to the lust patterns of their own sin natures.
III cont.) [Ro 6:4 cont.]:
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
"even so we also should walk in newness of life." =
"in" = indicating location
"newness" = "kainoteti" = from the Greek word kainos meaning new in the sense of kind rather than new in the sense of time. The proper form of the Greek word "neos' is used when new is to mean new in terms of time or age. Compare "new wine" = "neon" = new in terms of age or time = recent, (Mt 9:17). There is also a new wine in terms of its character, meaning that it is different from the world: a new wine in the kingdom of heaven. "New" = "kainon" = new in terms of species, quality, referring to the new wine of the kingdom age, (Mt 26:29). So "newness" = "kainoteti" in Romans 6:4 means a new quality. The word "newness" = "kainoteti" might better be translated "freshness" , i.e., a fresh new lifestyle, something totally different and unrelated to the days when the old sin nature was always in control.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come"
"if anyone is in Christ" = 'if anyone is baptized by God the Holy Spirit into Christ', (Ro 6:4).
"he is a new creation" = "new" = "kaine" = from the same root word translated new [= "kainoteti"] in Romans 6:4. It refers in 2 Cor 5:17 to being neither Jew nor Gentile but a new, i.e. unique creature; a member of the body of Christ - the church - a Christian - unique in all the universe heretofore. Being a new creature, the Christian has a fresh new lifestyle available to him under the control of the Holy Spirit.
III cont.) [Ro 6:4 cont.]:
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism [i.e., by being identified with, by being placed] into [Christ's] death in order that, just as Christ was raised [up] from the dead through the glory [meaning His essence - especially His omnipotence] of the Father, so we [believers] too might walk in newness of life."
"so we too might walk in newness of life" [KJV] "life" = "zoes" =
G) THIS NEW LIFESTYLE ENTAILS CHOICES FOR THE BELIEVER -
RE-ENSLAVE HIMSELF TO THE DARKNESS OF THE SIN NATURE REMAINING WITHIN HIM
OR
WALK IN THE LIGHT OF THE NEWNESS OF LIFE NOW PROVIDED WITHIN HIM VIA THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
The word "life" = "zoes" in this verse refers to the principal of life, the lifestyle under the control of the light of God the Holy Spirit as opposed to the deathstyle and darkness under the control of the indwelling old sin nature. There is a significance here in the fact that we should walk in a newness - a freshness - of lifestyle because we are no longer dominated by the old sin nature. Notice the word "should" or "might" - indicating possibility, not certainty. It's the choice of the believer every day. We are in fact freed from the absolute control of the old sin nature and under the control of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit baptism breaks the absolute rule of the old sin nature over a believer, (Ro 6:2). Christians therefore are now in a position in Christ, (Eph 1:13-14), in which they are eternally secure and enriched with respect to the fact that they now have the opportunity to live a new lifestyle. This cannot say, however, that believers can no longer sin, because many passages in Scripture indicate that they can and do, (cp 1 Jn 1:8, 10). Many passages also admonish Christians not to act like the world and sin thus indicating that they can choose to sin, (Eph 4:22-24; 5:17-6:21 & Col 3:8-14).
(v. 15) " 'What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
[= 'Shall we believers go ahead and volunteer to commit sin' because we are not under the authority of having to keep the law but under the authority of the system of God's grace? Answer]:
By no means?
[This passage from verse 15 to 19 in Romans chapter 6 covers the subject of two kinds of slavery. The question posed in verse 15, "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?" proposes the false accusation that if one is under grace and not under any kind of law then that person is free to do evil. Paul responds to this false accusation with the characteristic phrase: "By no means" = 'That is not the case at all!'
Paul's answer is that a Christian under grace is under as much a restraining authority of righteousness, (via God the Holy Spirit), as is the unbeliever who is under the directing authority of the sin nature, (Ro 6:17). The Christian is under the restraining authority of the absolute righteousness of God, (Ro 6:18).]
(v. 16) Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey - whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness?
['Doesn't the believer know that when he decides to sin for that moment he becomes a slave of the sin nature in him. Sin leads to separation from God and to premature physical death. Obedience to God the Holy Spirit leads to righteousness]
(v. 17) But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.
[Though everything you used to do including human good was out of obedience to your slavery to the sin nature you; now, with all your heart, you have obeyed godly teaching.
"obeyed" = believed the teaching of the Gospel of salvation, (1 Pet 4:17; Jn 6:26-29, 40), and thereafter obeyed = complied with the teaching of the Christian way of life as stipulated in God's Word which was entrusted to the believer]
(v. 18) You have been set free from sin [from the absolute control of your slavery to the sin nature] and have become slaves to righteousness.
[The believer has been put under the authority of God's system of righteousness which includes His discipline and His grace operation in the believer's daily life]
(v. 19) I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness,
[even when you were doing
human good ]
so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
[Notice that this verse indicates that believers, still being "weak in their natural selves", (i.e., their sin natures)] must choose every day between being sinful or righteous. There are no guarantees that any believer will lead a godly lifestyle.
Christians are not lawless or without authority. Paul's point in Romans 6:11 is that a Christian still does not exercise his own will, but must obey a new master: God, Who demands righteousness. Now it is true that a Christian can disobey His new Master and can resort to the evil propensity of the sin nature. But a sinning Christian will be disciplined by God, His new slave Master, until he acts in righteousness, (Heb 12:3-17). God as a Slavemaster will demand proper response even as the sin nature demanded proper evil response when it was slavemaster. Paul's point in using the slavery illustration, even though it is not a perfect one, ("I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh", v. 19), is to make it clear that even though you are a Christian under the freedoms of grace, you are still under God's absolute authority which provides that freedom.................... A believer is under God's rule of grace which permits the believer a freedom to choose between slavery to the sin nature and God's righteousness]
2) [Compare Ro 7:18-21 & 8:5a]:
(v. 18) "I [the Apostle Paul] know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.....
(v. 21) So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.
(v. 22) For in my inner being I delight in God's law'
(v. 23) But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members."
(8:5a) "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires..."
