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ROMANS CHAPTER 6
CORROBORATION AND FURTHER COMMENTARY
William R. Newell states, ["ROMANS VERSE ~ BY ~ VERSE" Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1994, p. 200]:
"We come now to the second part of Christ's work for us - our identification with His death.
It is not until we come to Chapter Six that the question of a holy walk as over against a sinful walk, comes up. For the blessed verses which describe the results of the discovery of peace with God, and of 'justification of life' and 'reigning in life' through Christ, as revealed in Chapter Five, are things of experience, of rejoicing, - even in the hope of the glory of God Himself! But the question of a holy walk under this 'abounding grace' is now brought up, in Chapter Six, in the answers to two questions: First, shall we keep sinning that grace may keep abounding? and, Second, The fact having been revealed that we are not under the principle of law but under that of grace, shall we use our liberty to commit sin? That is, Shall we use our freedom from the law-principle for selfish ends?
The answer to the first question is, that for all who are in Christ, the old relationship to sin is broken, - for they federally shared Christ's death to sin, and are to reckon it so, and walk in 'newness of life' unto God. The answer to the second question is, that anyone 'yielding his members' becomes servant to that to which he yields, - whether of sin unto death, or of righteousness unto sanctification."
Chapter six begins with "What shall we say, then? Are we to remain in sin that grace may be abounding?" This first verse of chapter 6 expounds upon Paul's previous point in chapter 5 that God's ever abounding grace covers man's ever increasing sins. Hence we shall begin at that previous point at the end of chapter five:
(v. 20) "The Law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more"
"The Law was added so that the trespass might increase" =
"trespass" = a deliberate violation of a known command
The Mosaic Law was "added" to what God required of man with the expected result that mankind would inevitably and deliberately violate the Law demonstrating that he is "utterly sinful" and beyond being able to reconcile himself with God.
The Law with the definite article refers here to the Mosaic Law - a set of God's rules of holiness to live by. It is stipulated here as being added for all those whom are under it to obey with the intended result that the trespass against God would increase. The trespass is defined as a specific kind of sin: a willful violation of a known statue of God's holiness.
The statutes of God's holiness to live by caused men to be held accountable to them with the intended result that due to their intrinsic sinful nature men purposely violated them all the more now that they were made known.
(v. 12) "So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
(v. 13) Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means
[Man is already born dead in sins and under God's condemnation - the Law didn't cause that!]
But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
[So that through the commandment, i.e., the Law, man recognizes he is dead in his sins and is declared utterly sinful, depraved and incapable of reconciling himself to God - a "slave to sin"]
(v. 14) We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin."
"For all [men] have sinned and are constantly falling short of the glory of God"
"have sinned" = constative aorist = have been constantly committing sins
"are constantly falling short of" = "usterountai" = signifies that all men are constantly committing sins.
Kenneth S. Wuest states, (Wuest's Word Studies From the Greek New Testament, Vol 1, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1992, p. 59:
" 'have sinned' is constative aorist, presenting a panoramic view of the human race as doing nothing except committing sin."
"For when you were slaves of sin [before you were saved, (Ro 6:6] you were free in regard to righteousness. [i.e., not able to do anything righteous] "
II cont.) [Ro 5:20 cont.]:
(v. 20) "The Law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more"
"But where sin increased, grace increased all the more" =
But the verse goes on to say, where sin increased - sin being all violations of God's holiness - grace increased all the more. Grace is defined in general as God's unmerited favor toward man, His free blessing. The specific grace in view here is as described in previous context of the book of Romans and as inferred in this verse and the next:
(1) God's free covering of the penalty for sins of all men including those which increased all the more when the Law was added for men to obey.
[Note
that the paying of the penalty for one's sins is one thing which was
accomplished on the cross at Calvary once for all mankind for all time;
and personal righteousness and forgiveness unto eternal life by a moment
of faith alone in Christ alone is another 
]:
(2) God's free provision of His righteousness and eternal life to those who believe in Jesus Christ.
Where mankind's sins increased as a result of now deliberating rebelling against the statutes of God's Law, God in His abounding grace in accordance with His sovereign plan had already accounted for those sins being covered through the once for all time sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ at Calvary as more specifically referred to in verse 21 which follows below:
(v. 20) "The Law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
(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."
"so that, just as sin reigned in death" =
"so that" = God's grace increased all the more as man's trespasses increased so that, i.e., for the purpose that.
"so that, just as sin reigned" = "sin" = sin, singular, the sin nature, the flesh, the old man which reigns over unsaved man which is characterized by eternal death.
"so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." =
The phrase "so that" is followed by a parallel comparison between the rule of the sin nature which is characterized by eternal death in unsaved man vs. the rule of the righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord which is characterized by bringing eternal life into the one who believes.
God's free grace covering of the penalty for sins was provided so that just as sin ruled over man which caused man to sin all the time unto temporal and eternal death; so now God's free grace covering for sin reigns through God's provision of righteousness providing eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord for those who believe.
"so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." =
This grace provision of God's covering of the penalty for all men's sins results in the provision of righteousness to the one who believes in Jesus Christ. Such righteousness reigns over the believer instead of sin. And it results in the believer's reception of eternal life to him the moment he trusts alone in Christ alone as confirmed in chapters 3 & 4.
(v. 21) "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
(v. 22) This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."
(v. 5:20) "The Law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
(v. 5:21) 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. 6:1) What shall we say, then? Are we to remain in sin that grace may be abounding?"
"What shall we say, then?" =
Paul asks the question "What shall we say then?", i.e., What conclusions shall we draw in view of what he just got through saying in 5:20-21 - that the Law was added so that the trespass - deliberate violation of a now made known statute of God's holiness - might increase; but where sin increased, God's free grace covering of that sin increased all the more in order that, just as sin had ruled in man causing temporal and eternal death so God's grace which covers sins might reign in the believer through His provision of righteousness to those who expressed a moment of faith alone in Jesus Christ our Lord alone.
IV cont.) [Ro 5:20-6:1 cont.]:
(v. 5:20) "The Law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
(v. 5:21) 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. 6:1) What shall we say, then? Are we to remain in sin that grace may be abounding?"
"What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?" =
Paul then asks believers, who in earlier verses in chapter 3 were declared justified by a moment of faith alone in Christ alone, 'shall we believers go on sinning so that God's free grace covers the penalty for those sins?'
C) SINCE GOD'S GRACE COVERS THE BELIEVER'S SINS THE BELIEVER IS ETERNALLY SECURE
Notice that the ever increasing sins committed by the believer are covered by God's ever increasing grace maintaining the believer's righteous standing before God. Note that to be justified = to be declared to have a righteous standing before God. Hence the believer is eternally secure because of God's ever increasing grace.
"epimenoumen [pres, act, subj] ........te amartia [dative case]" =
"are we to remain....................................in sin" ..........................=
"are we to remain" is in the deliberative subjunctive which poses a question of objective possibility best rendered in English, 'Are we to - is such the path' (maybe we choose to and maybe we don't)
The question is asked, 'Shall we believers continue in sin, i.e., lead a lifestyle of sin in subjection to the reign of the intrinsic sin nature since God's grace will increase to cover those sins.
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 that the more one sins the more grace abounds to cover those sins. So a believer can choose to continue "in sin", i.e., remain under the absolute control of the sin nature. The more that the believer committed evil acts, the more God's grace would increase to provide forgiveness for those sins. Thus objectors to free grace salvation by faith alone in Christ alone falsely state that if a moment of faith in Christ were the only condition whereby one is to be saved, (and it is), then believers would be encouraged to keep on sinning'. Nothing could be further from the truth. That is why Paul uses the strong negative in verse 2.
[Newell, op. cit., p. 201]:
"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.'
(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" = "By no means" =
"Me .genoito"
"Not May it be!"
This is the strongest of negatives in koine Greek, it is in the aorist tense, middle voice, optative mood. Optative mood signifies Paul's wish that it be so that believers not continue committing acts of sin. Hence it is not a certainty. The aorist tense in optative mood signifies a simple undefined completed action, not a continuous one. The concept of completed action here, or rather negative completed action, points to the believer "by no means" should ever consider continuing in sin at any point in time. Hence we have the aorist tense which emphatically rules out such a consideration at any time.
The middle voice indicates that the believer's participation is required in some manner upon himself - it is up to him to decide whether to go on sinning or not. And with the strongest of negatives: Paul's answer is never!
V 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" =
"Such ones as we" = "hoitines", relative pronoun of characterization which has in view all believers with an emphatic force because of it's primary position at the beginning of the phrase.
[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.
(v. 8) "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
(v. 10) If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives."
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" = having become dead, i.e., inactivated relative to the authority of the sin nature in the believer's life. Sin is singular and refers here to the capacity or nature within man which compels him to commit acts of sin, i.e., the sin nature.
The verb "died" is "apethanomen" in the Greek which is in the aorist tense denoting a completed action and not an ongoing one. Thus it cannot refer to an action as ongoing or prolonged such as a lifestyle of not sinning any more or one of gradually decreasing of acts of sin. Since it is a completed action it must refer to no longer being under the control of the sin nature such that the believer does not have to sin any more. Since believers are exhorted not to continue committing acts of sin in this passage indicating that they indeed can sin, a state of ongoing sinlessness cannot be in view. Thus the action in 'died to sin' is an aorist completed action. Hence we are looking at the believer being separated from the absolute authority over him of the sin nature within the believer such that when he was an unbeliever, everything he did was motivated by the sin nature - even the human good he did.
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 given to the believer when he believed and such position of righteousness is maintained by God.
[Newell, cont.]:
"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 given to the believer when he believed and such position of righteousness is maintained by God:
(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 a one time 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 no longer evil all the time.
While the sin nature is in charge, even the good that that individual does is contaminated with self-centered motivations coming out of the sin nature, (Ref. Isa 64:6). So everything the unbeliever does is unrighteous, even the human good he does.
And so in the same way the individual who has trusted alone in Christ alone is "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 mastership, i.e., 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."
(v. 20) "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
(v. 21) What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
(v. 22) But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
(v. 23) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
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:
"Such ones as we, - who died to sin! How shall we any longer be living in it?" =.
Notice that Paul's question, 'How shall we any longer be living in it?' implies that it is indeed possible that the believer can do just that: The believer still has the capacity to live in sin in spite of the fact that he has died to the control of the sin nature of his lifestyle.
(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
(v. 23) to be made new in
the attitude of your minds [ cf. Ro 12:2]
[Notice that one who is a
believer still has an "old self" which was present in his former
way of life, which "old self" continues to be present in the
believer, and which the believer because of this "old self" is "being
corrupted by its deceitful desires"
. This "old self"
then is to be "put off" such that believers are to be "made
new in the attitude of [their] minds"]:
(v. 24) and to put on the [brand] new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
[So in order to put off the "old self" and put on the "new self" which was "created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" you believers must make yourselves "new in the attitude of your minds". This points to believers making an ongoing effort from within their minds which results in putting off the old self, i.e., the former way of life - changing from an attitude of the mind which has deceitful desires to putting on the new self, i.e., changing to an attitude in your minds to be like God true righteousness and holiness]
V 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?"
"How shall we any longer be living in it" =
The verb "be living in it" is rendered from the Greek:
"pOs eti .......zEsomen ......en autE" =
"how longer shall we live in .it"
"zEsomen" is in the future tense, active voice and indicative mood. Indicative mood is a statement of fact. Hence the question follows Paul's declaration that the believer has died to sin and emphasizes it all the more. Since the control of the sin nature has been deactivated in the believer's life Paul then asks, 'How will the believer live under it?' for the control of the sin nature over the believer has been made inactive in the believer's life. This question is phrased in such a way as to elicit the answer that the believer will not be living under the control of the sin nature because he has been separated from its control over him.
This is not to say that the believer cannot still voluntarily resubmit himself to the control of his sin nature.
"Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?"
"Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus" =
"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.
"were baptized [into Christ Jesus, i.e., into His death]" =
Paul continues to reflect on the believer's position by reminding us that "all of us who were baptized, i.e, placed into Christ Jesus (and that includes all believers) were baptized = placed into His death.
"were baptized [into Christ Jesus]" = "ebaptisthemen" = were placed into. The definition of the verb to baptize which is transliterated from the Greek verb baptizo is to immerse into or identify with.
Here in Ro 6:3a it is in the aorist tense: completed action, indicative mood: statement of fact and passive voice: the believer is passive in his placement into Christ Jesus.
The passive voice rules out the believer actively participating in water baptism. Hence we have a placement into Christ Jesus by an Entity outside of the believer - the believer being passive in this activity by definition. This points to God Himself, via the Holy Spirit, i.e., Holy Spirit baptism and not water baptism. The Holy Spirit is the only one who has this capacity in the first place.
So the believer is placed by God the Holy Spirit into Christ Jesus and is now part of the body of His Son. Paul continues to say that this has immediate ramifications:
VI cont.) [Ro 6:3 cont.]:
"Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?" =
A cont.) ALL BELIEVERS WERE BAPTIZED BY GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT, I.E., IDENTIFIED WITH & PLACED INTO CHRIST JESUS ESPECIALLY WITH RESPECT TO RECEIVING THE BENEFITS BROUGHT ABOUT BY HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS
"were baptized [into His death]" (cont.) =
The believer has been placed into the death of Christ which occurred historically hundreds of years ago such that what was accomplished by that death is now attributable by God to the believer himself - not the least of which is the payment for the penalty for all of of his sins and complete and total forgiveness unto eternal life - for that was the declared purpose for our Lord's sacrifice on the cross at Calvary.
"eis ...ton thanaton autou ebaptisthEmen"
"into ........death .....His ....were baptized"
"were baptized [into His death]" = "ebaptisthemen" = were placed into His death. It is in the aorist tense: completed action, indicative mood: statement of fact and passive voice: the believer is passive in his placement by God into the death of Christ Jesus. And not only that, it is a completed action pointing to the eternal security of the believer. The context demands a once for all time action of receiving the benefit of what our Lord did on the cross because our Lord's sacrifice on the cross is once for all time for the sins of the whole world. There is no sense of something more to receive here as a result of the aorist - completed action tense.
"were baptized [into His death]" (cont.) =
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 choose to lead a new & godly life. Believer's water baptism cannot do this, only God's action can.
(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."
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.
4) THIS BAPTISM INTO CHRIST CREDITS ALL BELIEVERS WITH THE ABSOLUTE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD'S SON
"were baptized [into His death]" (cont.) =
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).
"were baptized [into His death]" (cont.) =
When an individual is referred to in Scripture as being baptized into Christ via 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 requiring the individual's participation.
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.
"were baptized [into His death]" (cont.) =
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, Pastor Berean Memorial Church, Irving, Tx states in an 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 by a moment of faith alone in Christ alone.
"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 believed in the gospel, (Eph 1:13-14), i.e., trusted alone in Christ alone to save you from your sins.
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 fullness 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..."
(v. 3) "Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
(v. 4) 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, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
The death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ provide the believer with the freedom to choose and the capacity to live a new and godly life. Or he can revert to slavery to the old ungodly nature which still remains within him. 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.
"We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into [His] death" =
The believer was buried = "sunetaphEmen" = aorist, passive, indicative = completed action verb, once for all time, passive voice pointing to the action being performed by God on the believer and not by the believer; indicative mood meaning a statement of fact.
So the believer was once for all time identified and credited with the results of the death of our Lord on the cross, he was therefore through that baptism by God, buried with Him. In other words it is as if we believers were actually crucified, dead and buried in the tomb with our Lord - in the viewpoint of God Himself relative to our sins.
"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." =
The death, burial and resurrection of Christ provide the believer with the freedom to choose and the capacity to live a new and godly life. Or he can revert to slavery to the ungodly nature which still remains within him (Ro 5:20-6:1). 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.
(v. 3) "Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
(v. 4) 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 with
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. 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 [believers] 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.
(v. 3) "Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
(v. 4) 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 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. (cont.)" =
"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 in the passive voice, i.e., a passive one relative to the believer's participation. Yet this kind of baptism 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 where he must actively participate. 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 a completed action, one which occurrred at a point of time in the past - on that Resurrection day 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
(v. 3) "Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
(v. 4) 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."
F) CHRIST WAS RAISED FROM THE DEAD AS A RESULT OF GOD'S GLORIOUSLY OMNIPOTENT POWER
"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. (cont.)" =
"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).
[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.
"outos kai .nmeis en kainoteti
"so ....also we .....in .newness ..
zoes ....peripatesomen.[1 pers pl, aorist, active voice, subjunctive]
of life .should walk
"just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (cont.) =
Notice the word "also" which refers back to our Lord's resurrection from the dead resulting in His walking in newness of life which we are also to walk in. This refers to His resurrected humanity from the dead to live a perfect and holy life in His resurrected body - an example that we believer's should follow.
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.
(v. 3) "Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
(v. 4) 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."
"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. But there are no guarantees that he will constantly live a godly lifestyle.
(v. 3) "Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
(v. 4) 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."
I) 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
"just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (cont.) =
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, (Ro 6:3; 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 lead a sinful lifestyle, because Ro 5:20-6:1 and many passages in Scripture indicate that they can and do, (cp 1 Jn 1:8, 10). And Ro 6:4 and many other passages admonish the individual who has been placed into Christ that they 'should walk in newness of life' indicating the possibility that they may not, thus indicating that they can choose to sin, (Eph 4:22-24; 5:17-6:21 & Col 3:8-14). If this were not possible - that Christians could not sin or lead a lifestyle of sin - then these passages should not be in Scripture.
(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?
[Verses 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 possibility 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 and prolonged physical life]
(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 Roman believers used to do before you became a believer, including human good, was out of obedience to the slavery to your sin nature; you as a believer have now chosen to wholeheartedly obey 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."
(v. 3) "Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
(v. 4) 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."
"just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." (cont.) =
Those who were baptized into Christ Jesus are exhorted to walk in newness of life which has been made available to them through their identification with (i.e, baptism into), Christ - His death, burial and resurrection into a new life rather than go on sinning so that grace may increase.
"Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires" =
Nothing individuals do is righteous before they became believers. Even the "good" deeds are directed by their intrinsic sin natures under the guise of human good. And everything is directed overall by the forces of the "prince of the power of the air", (Eph 2:2).
So even the human good that people do is contaminated by the sin nature - by rebellious substitution of one's own idea of what they want to do as human good instead of what God has for them to do, (Eph 2:10); or by impure motives or thoughts. In any case, God views all of the human good that man does as outside of the influence of His absolute righteousness, i.e., it is all unrighteous, (Ro 6:20) - and actually viewed by God as "filthy menstrual rags", (Isa 64:6); (as opposed to the divine good that man does - that which is directed by God the Holy Spirit within the faithful believer, Eph 2:10). A number of passages in Scripture indicate that unbelieving man and carnal believers are unable to do anything except evil or human good motivated by evil, both of which are unacceptable in God's eyes:
(v. 20) "When you were slaves to sin, [as unbelievers] you were free from the control of righteousness."
[Everyone is born into the human race as a slave to the sin nature. In Ro 6:20, Paul uses an example of the well known institution of human slavery to illustrate his point in this matter. (Recall that during the time of the Roman Empire slavery was common). Note that the Greek word "doula" = "slavery" and "douloi" = "slaves" is used here in this passage and not the word for servants which word some translations use. Paul's point is that slaves have no free will, they must obey the authority of the slave master. Everyone is born into the human race as a slave of the sin nature, (Ro 3:9). We all have a constant natural compulsion to do evil even believers, (Ro 7:18-23; 8:5a).
So you have a group of people who form the majority of the world's population who are slaves to Satan who are pursuing the human good and the sins of their master and their father the devil. People, because of their arrogance, make a very serious mistake in thinking that they are free - they are not, they are slaves of Satan if they are not a slave of God and His righteousness. Slaves of Satan will experience what their father the Devil believes:
(v. 38) "I [Jesus] am telling you [unbelievers and carnal believers] what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you [unbelievers and carnal believers] do what you have heard from your father [the Devil]
[Jesus is telling the Pharisees, (Jn 8:13), and by application, all unbelievers and carnal believers with respect to their allegiance and lifestyle]
(v. 39) "'Abraham is our father, 'they answered. 'If you were Abraham's children,' said Jesus, 'then you would do the things Abraham did.
(v. 40) As it is, you are determined to kill Me, a Man Who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.
(v. 41a) You are doing the things your own father does.' ...
(v. 43) Why is My language not clear to; you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.
(v. 44) You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires.
["desires" = "epithumias" = lusts.
He [the Devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him, When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies].
(v. 45) Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me!
(v. 46) Can any of you prove Me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe Me?
(v. 47) He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.' "
Here we have very clearly declared by the Lord that people are slaves of Satan by their natural birth. They are controlled by the devil through the sin nature. The slaves of Satan have no choice but to be subject to the will of their master, their father, the devil. All that they do, even human good, is motivated out of their sin natures which are under Satan's control. They "do not believe" the truth even when presented by the Son of God because they "do not hear" it - they "are unable to hear" it. They do the things" Satan does, they want to "carry out his "desires". Compare what our Lord said about committing murder, it is more than just taking a life premeditatedly:
"The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God."
If one cannot see the light of the gospel of Christ then one is an unbeliever under the control of the sin nature, (Ro 6:17), or a carnal Christian acting as an unbeliever would; and unbelievers "cannot [are unable to] please God", (Ro 8:8). Therefore, unbelievers cannot do any good that is acceptable to God. It is all "filthy menstrual rags" (Isa 64:6), outside of the influence of righteousness, (Ro 6:20).
(v. 7) "The sinful mind [includes ALL unbelievers and carnal Christians] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so.
(v. 8) Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."
[Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot even do anything good that will be acceptable to God, only evil, even carnal Christians]:
(v. 21) "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.
(v. 22) Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'
[In the name of Jesus these people performed many deeds of human good based on human reasoning of what they wanted to do to please God. They substituted for what God would have them do: first they should have trusted alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life and enablement by the Holy Spirit to then do the divine good works that God has set aside for them to do, (Eph 2:10)]
(v. 23) Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. [unbelievers]. Away from Me, you evildoers!"
[Notice that the human good that the people earnestly plead as having been done for God is defined as evil by the Son of God]
(v. 1) "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
(v. 2) in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient."
It is the devil who is the controlling force upon the wills of unbelievers and carnal believers. Satan demands that his slaves live a life of filthiness and of lawlessness. Now this life of filthiness and lawlessness is frequently hard to see because it is often covered over with a veneer of culture, human good, good manners or the hypocrisy of sophistication
(v. 4) "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, even so we [believers] too might walk in newness of life.
(v. 5) For if [since] we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection."
"For if [since] we [believers] have become united with Him in the likeness of His death" =
"ei gar sumphutoi .......gegonamen .........tO .....homoiOmati
"If for united together we have become .in the likeness
tou thanatou autou"
.......of death His"
This is a first class "If" clause best rendered "since":
"gegonanmen" = we have become, perfect tense, active voice, indicative mood which renders "ei" = since; thus stipulating a certainty that believers have indeed and forever (perfect tense) become united together in the likeness of His death. The significance of this is that the penalty and forgiveness for all believers' sins is paid for once and for all; for believers are viewed by God as having died with Him.
[BKC, p. 462]:
"6:5-7. The first clause should be translated, 'Since (not if) we have become united in the likeness of His death,' because the statement is assumed to be true and is true."
"For if [since] we [believers] have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." =
Since believers are identified by God as having died with Christ on the cross for their sins relative to personal forgiveness, (1 Jn 2:2, Acts 10:43; Ro 5:2--6:4), then it follows that they have the certainty of being resurrected from the dead in the manner He was - to eternal glory.
[BKC, cont.]:
"It affirms the certainty of the second clause of the sentence, which promises that believers are united with Christ in the likeness of His resurrection."
(v. 4) "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.
(v. 5) For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
(v. 6) knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin"
"For [= Since] we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection; knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him" =
The believer's understanding that he has become united with Jesus Christ in the likeness of His death and the likeness of His resurrection, is paralleled here with knowing that ones old self was crucified with Christ. So at the moment of becoming united with Christ in the likeness of His death which is concurrent with being united in the likeness of His resurrection, one at the same time has ones old self crucified with Christ.
B) THE OLD SELF IS CLARIFIED IN SCRIPTURE AS:
Objectors claim that an individual cannot go to heaven if he still evidences a characteristic of sinning while living out their life on this earth. They falsely claim that a heavenbound individual - one who is saved therefore, cannot possess a nature which is conducive to sin, i.e., a sin nature. In Romans chapter 7, however, God's Word describes the Apostle Paul with such a sin nature. So in order to circumvent what Scripture teaches it is often falsely stated that Romans chapter 7 was written in the historical present tense, such that this chapter relates to Paul's condition before he was saved.
But Romans chapter 7 teaches that the Apostle Paul was struggling between what his alive and functioning "inner man", i.e., his born-again spirit was urging him to do and what his sinful nature moved him to do:
(v. 14) "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.
(v. 15) I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
(v. 16) And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
(v. 17) As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
(v. 18) I 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. 19) For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.
(v. 20) Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
(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.
(v. 24) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
(v. 25) Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
FURTHER DETAILS AND
EXEGESIS: 
[The New Scofield Study Bible, NIV, C. I. Scofield, D.E., Oxford University Press, New York, 1967, p. 1183, footnote #1]:
"The expression 'old self' occurs elsewhere (Eph 4:22; Col 3:9) and means all that man was in Adam, both morally and judicially, i.e., the man of old, the corrupt human nature, the inborn tendency to evil in all men. In Rom. 6:6 it is the natural man himself; in Eph 4:22 and Col. 3:9 his ways. Positionally, in the reckoning of God, the 'old self' has been crucified, and the believer is exhorted to make this good in experience, reckoning it to be so by definitely 'taking off' the old self and 'putting on' the new (Col 3:8-14)."
3) THE OLD SELF = THE FORMER WAY OF LIFE WHICH IS CORRUPTED BY ITS DECEIFTUL DESIRES
(v. 17) "So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.
(v. 18) They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
(v. 19) Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
(v. 20) You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.
(v. 21) Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.
(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;
(v. 23) to be made new in the attitude of your minds;
(v. 24) and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."
[BKC, p. 636]:
"4:20-24. In contrast (de) with the 'old man' (vv. 17-19) believers did not come to know (lit., 'learn') Christ that way. Their minds are no longer darkened; their lives are no longer alienated from God; their hearts are no longer hardened and impure. Christ is the Subject (you heard of Him) and the Sphere you were taught in Him) and of a believer's learning. This teaching and learning is in accordance with the truth, because He is hte Truth (John 14:6). The content of this learning is twofold:
(1) A believer has put off the old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires (cf. Eph 4:17-19). Self-centered lusts are deceitful because they promise joy but fail to provide it.
(2) He has put on the new self which has been created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, which is based on truth (v. 24).
This truth contrasts with the deceitfulness of lustful living (cf. vv. 14-15). Believers have been made new in the attitude of their minds; they are no longer futile in their thinking, darkened in their understanding, and ignorant (vv. 18-19). These are not commands, for the construction here (and in the parallel passage in Col 3:9-10) is not imperative. They are facts that believers have learned, as is also seen in Romans 6:2-10 and 2 Corinthians 5:17."
"For [= Since] we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection; knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him" (cont.) =
Since this passage deals with encouraging believers to not go on sinning so that grace may increase but to live a new life such that theirs is an example of a reign of righteousness;
and since being crucified signifies being put to death, i.e., made inactive;
then we must conclude that the old man being crucified refers to the capacity of the individual to sin being made inactive in its absolute control over the individual.
Notice that the verse stipulates "that our old self was crucified with Him" indicating that even before a person is born his old man was crucified, i.e., put to death with Christ on the cross nearly 2000 years ago waiting to be activated the moment he becomes a believer!
Hence we must conclude that since all individuals are born with a capacity to sin which continues even after they become believers (Ro 5:20-6:1), then neither a condition of sinlessness nor a lack of capacity to sin can be in view. Rather, we have the potential created at Calvary for an individual to deactivate the absolute control of his sin nature which occurs at the moment he trusts alone in Christ alone unto eternal life to become a believer.
(v. 1) "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
[The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Walvoord & Zuck Eds., Victor Books, USA, p. 679-680]:
"Since believers have not only died with Christ but have also been raised with Christ (cf. Rom 6:8-10; Col. 2:12-13), they should set their hearts on things above. That is, believers' lives should be dominated by the pattern of heaven, bringing heavenly direction to their earthly duties. 'Set' (zetEitE) means 'to seek or strive for earnestly' (cf. Rev 9:6; 1 Cor 7:27). Fixing their attention decisively toward 'things above' involves centering their lives on the ascended (Eph 4:10), glorfied (John 17:5; Phil 2:9) Christ, Who is seated at the right hand of God (Ps 110:1; Luke 22:69; Acts 2:33; 5:31; Rom 8:34; Eph 1:20; Heb 1:3, 12; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Peter 3:22). This is His seat of divine authority because He has defeated the forces of evil and death (Heb 2:14-15).
(v. 2) Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
(v. 3) For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
(v. 4) When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
(v. 5) Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry."
[Notice that believers still have a choice, even after their lives are "hidden with Christ in God.", (v. 3), to put to death or not put to death whatever belongs to their earthly natures, i.e., their sin natures. Hence we must conclude that believers still have the sin nature fully intact and must make a moment to moment choice to put it "to death", i.e., make it inactive in their lives moment to moment.]
(v. 6) Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
(v. 7) You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.
(v. 8) But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
(v. 9) Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices
["since
you have taken off your old self with its (evil) practices" = infers
that a believer has in fact removed from himself the "old self",
i.e., the sin nature]
(v. 10) and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
IX cont.) [Ro 6:4-6 cont.]:
(v. 4) "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.
(v. 5) For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
(v. 6) knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin"
"For [= Since] we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection; knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him" =
Verse 6 speaks of another benefit of Holy Spirit baptism which was touched on in Romans chapter five: the benefit of no longer being in Adam and of now being in Christ. Note that the "old man" in verse 6 which is crucified is one's position in Adam and not the sin nature which believer's retain, for crucifixion means termination.
[BKC, p. 462]:
"As a result we know (ginOskontEs suggests experimental or reflective knowing, not intuitive knowledge as in eidotes in v. 9) that our old self was crucified with Him. Literally, the last portion of this sentence is, 'our old man was crucified together, ' obviously with Christ. A believer's 'old man' is the person as he was spiritually before he trusted Christ, when he was still under sin (3:9), powerless and ungodly (5:6), a sinner (5:8), and an enemy of God (5:10). ('Old self' or 'old man' does not refer to the sin nature as such. The Bible does not teach that the sin nature was eradicated at salvation or is ever eradicated in this life [cp 1 Jn 1:, 8, 10]).
The 'old man' was 'crucified' with Christ (cf. 'baptized into His death,' 6:3; and 'united with Him in His death,' v. 5) so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless.
IX cont.) [Ro 6:4-6 cont.]:
(v. 4) "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.
(v. 5) For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
(v. 6) knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin"
"For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." =
Since 'our old self', i.e., the believer's sin nature has been crucified with Christ, then the body of sin, i.e., the sin nature is rendered "katargEthE" = useless, unproductive - but not annihilated as the verb does not carry this possibility of meaning. This is a verb in the 3rd person singular, aorist tense signifying a completed action. It is in the passive voice indicating that the believer has had the action done to him as opposed to done by him, i.e., done by God Himself. It is also in the subjunctive mood signifying objective possibility, in other words the rendering of the believer's sin nature useless, or unproductive is not absolute and may be reinstated in some manner - which is elaborated upon later in this passage.
The situation is clear that the believer should no longer be a slave to sin because the reigning power of his body of sin, i.e., that intrinsic part of him that compelled him to sin as a matter of lifestyle = the sin nature, has been rendered powerless in its rule over him. The plug on the sin nature has been pulled and so it is rendered powerless. It lies dormant within the believer but the believer can always plug it again. Sadly, this is so often the case amongst believers. And that's a key message that Paul addresses in the negative.
"For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin."(cont.) =
Notice that Paul has defined here what he meant earlier by the phrases 'we have died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?' (v. 2); and in verse 6, 'our old self was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with.' He declares that the result of dying to sin and our old self being crucified with Christ is that we should no longer choose to be slaves to sin in our experience.
Taking into account Paul's initial declaration in this section of Romans chapter 6, that where believers' sin increased, grace increased all the more; and his question, 'shall we believers go on sinning so that grace may increase?'; we come to the conclusion that Paul is indicating that the result of the individual becoming a believer is that he can choose to go on sinning so that God's grace will increase to cover that sin, but since the believer is no longer a slave to this compelling nature to sin as a result of receiving the benefit of Christ's death for him, Paul asks in the negative, 'Why should he go back to that lifestyle?' Answer demanded by the context might be stated as follows: 'By no means, absolutely not.' This reiterates the message in vv. 1-2.
(v. 5) For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
(v. 6) knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin
(v. 7) because anyone who has died has been freed from sin."
A) DEATH SETTLES THE BELIEVER'S SLAVERY TO SIN
"that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been freed (justified) from sin." =
tou mEketi .....douleuein hEmas tE ......................hamartia
that no longer to serve ....us ...................................sin
(that we should no longer serve (be slaves to) ........sin)
ho .........gar apothanOn dedikaiOtai .........apo .tEs hamartias
the one .for having died has been justified from ......sin.
(for he who has died ..... has been freed .....from ......sin) =
The finality of death with Christ, (vv. 4-5), is presented here as once and for all settling the issue of the individual being enslaved to the sin nature within himself when he trusted in Christ's death for his sins. It is thus not an ongoing issue but a settlement in an instant of time when he believed. The individual has died to sin and has been freed from sin - from his enslavement to it.
"has been freed" = "dedikaiOtai" = lit., 'has been justified', i.e., declared righteous, perfect tense providing a completed action with ongoing effect of a once for all time that the individual has been extricated from the control of the sin nature within himself.
[Everett F. Harrison states, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol 10, Frank E. Gaebelien, Editor, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1976, p. 70]:
"This annulling of the power of sin is based on a recognized principle - that death settles all claims. Our union with Christ is His death, which was designed to deal with sin once for all, means that we are free from the hold of sin. Its mastery is broken. (v. 7)."
[The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Walvoord & Zuck Eds., Victor Books, USA, p. 463]:
"The next clause (Rom 6:6b-7) in effect explains the first clause (v. 6a) in his unregenerate state a believer was enslaved to sin. But his 'old man' was crucified (identified) with Christ, and that is the basis for deliverance from enslavement to sin. Anyone who has died has been freed from sin. The words 'has been freed' are a loose rendering of dedikaiOtai, literally, 'has been justified or declared righteous.' The perfect tense of this verb describes a past action with a continuing effect or force. Sin no longer has the legal right to force its mastery and control on a believer, for he has died with Christ."
(v. 6) "Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin
(v. 7) because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
(v. 8) Now if [since] we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him."
A) SINCE BELIEVERS DIED WITH CHRIST THEY WILL ALSO LIVE WITH HIM FOREVER
"Now if [since] we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him =
'If' = since ['ei' plus the indicative mood in the 'if clause'].
Hence since we [believers] died with Christ, [i.e., it was if they died themselves to pay the penalty for their sins and thus receive all the benefits of our Lord's death on the cross as a result....then] we [believers] believe that we will also live with Him [i.e., live eternally live with Him]
Since our Lord lives eternally we believers will also live with Him eternally. Notice that an individual is portrayed as dying with Christ in a moment in time resulting in a future of eternal life - an eternally secure picture.
(v. 8) "Now if [since] we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
(v. 9) For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him."
"We believe that we will also live with Him for we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him" =
The reason Paul said in verse 8 that Christians believe that they will also live with Him is stipulated immediately afterward in verse 9:
'For [= because] we know ['eidotes' = know because it is self-evident] that since 'Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him'. So it is self-evident that since Jesus Christ cannot die again, hence death has no mastery over Him, then this value is now attributable to those who trusted in Him and were identified as having died with Him, receiving the same benefit of mastery over death, i.e., eternal life with Him and without death. This further reinforces the picture of eternal security.
(v. 8) "Now if [since] we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
(v. 9) For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him."
(v. 10) The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God."
"The death He died, He died to sin once for all" =
Notice the conjunction 'to' in 'Christ died to sin once for all.' The word 'to' means in reference to, i.e., that His death was a result of sin. The phrase 'once for all' defines Christ's death as a result of the sins of all mankind who will ever live. And notice further that Christ not only died 'to' sin but He also died to sin 'once for all'. So our Lord died as a result of the sins of the whole world for the sins of the whole world.
The death Christ died on the cross was a once for all time and once for all men who will ever live event which was in payment for the sins of the whole world once for all men & once for all sins. What is portrayed here is that there is no payment needed after this by anyone.
Hence acts of sin committed by anyone at any time are never the issue relative to salvation unto eternal life since Christ has paid the penalty "once for all." But notice that only those who have been justified by faith are in view in this passage as receiving eternal life. So sins are not the issue, but whether or not one has been justified by a moment of faith alone in Christ alone.
B) OUR LORD'S DEATH TO SIN IS CONTRASTED WITH HIS RESURRECTED LIFE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS TO GOD
"But the life He lives, He lives to God" =
Our Lord's death to sin on the cross for all time for all mankind who will ever live is contrasted with the resurrected life of His humanity which He lives eternally to God. A life lived to God implies an eternal life of godly righteousness. So the One in Whom believers died is the One Who lives forever. Hence believers will live forever to God just as He does - in godly righteousness.
(v. 10) "The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.
(v. 11) In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin" =
"Count yourselves" is rendered from "logizesthe", present tense indicating an active ongoing participation by the believer of living to God.
In the same way that Jesus Christ died to sin and lives eternally to God in godly righteousness, so in the same way believers are to count themselves dead to sin, to its control over their lifestyles, and in this life live to godly righteousness.
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." =
Just as Jesus Christ died to and for our sins and lives to God in righteousness, in the same way believers are to count themselves dead to sin, to its control over their lifestyle and count themselves alive to God in Christ Jesus.
To count oneself alive to God in Christ Jesus is not saying that one is to recognize that one is physically alive - all men recognize this; but believers are to recognize that they are spiritually alive to God - that they now have an eternal and spiritual relationship with God. This counting or recognition of ones alive relationship with God in Christ Jesus is exhorted by Paul in order that one might live a lifestyle in this mortal life commensurate with one's position in Christ Jesus and His righteousness.
Just as one may have a position as King of England who is expected to act in accordance with that position, so a believer has a position in Christ and His righteousness which is credited to him and who is expected to act in accordance with his position.
[The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Walvoord & Zuck Eds., Victor Books, USA, p. 463]:
"6:8-11.These verses state much the same truth as verses 5-7 and in the same format, beginning with if ('since').. Those who by faith receive Jesus Christ and are identified with Him have died with Christ (cr. vv. 3, 5). Because this is true, we believe ... that we will also live with Him. The sharing of the resurrection life of Christ begins at the moment of regeneration, but it will continue as a believer shares eternity with the Lord. Again as a result we know (eidotes, 'intuitive knowledge,' perceiving a self-evident truth [cf. v. 15], not ginOskontes, 'experimental or reflective knowledge' as in v. 6) that Christ's resurrection was a removal from the sphere of physical death to an unending spiritual form of life. Having experienced physical death once and having been removed from its realm by resurrection life, Jesus cannot die again (lit., 'dies no more'). In resurrection Jesus Christ was victorious over death (Acts 2:24) and death no longer has mastery (kyrieuei, 'rules as lord'; cf. Rom 6:14) over Him as it does over all other human beings (John 10:17-18).
Paul summarized this discussion by stating that Jesus in His physical death... died to sin (i.e., in reference to sin) once for all (ephapax; cf. Heb. 7:27; 9:12; 10:10). This stands in opposition to the doctrine and practice of the so-called perpetual sacrifice of Christ in the Roman Catholic Mass. Contrariwise, the life He lives, He lives (pres. Tense, 'keeps on living') to God. Resurrection life is eternal in quality and everlasting in duration. Furthermore, God is its Source and also its Goal. What is true of Jesus Christ in reality and experience, believers who are identified with Him by faith are commanded to reckon true for themselves. They are to count themselves dead to (in reference to) sin but alive to God. Since they are dead to its power (Rom 6:2), they ought to recognize that fact and not continue in sin. Instead they are to realize they have new life in Christ; they share His resurrection life (cf. Eph 2:5-6; Col 2:12-13)."
[Everett F. Harrison states, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol 10, Frank E. Gaebelein, Editor, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1976, p. 70]:
"8-10. Union with Christ continues to be the theme in vv. 8-10, but attention shifts from its effect on the problem of sin to a consideration of its bearing on the problem of death. Consequently, resurrection comes into focus. Though there is considerable similarity with the close of v. 4, the note of futurity ('we will also live with Him') makes it apparent that future bodily resurrection is in view. For a brief time, death, as the executor of sin, held the Savior, but not for long. Since He was not guilty of personal sin, death had no right to hold Him indefinitely (Acts 2:24). Likewise, it had no right to recall Him to experience death again. Once having been raised from the dead, our Lord is alive for ever and ever (Rev 1:18).
It was important for Paul to emphasize this truth, for the believer must have full confidence that the captain of his salvation will never again come under the power of sin and death. If he lacks assurance, the teaching about union with Christ will be of little help to him. 'He died to sin once for all.' As Meyer puts it, 'He submitted Himself to its power in His death, but through that death He has died to its power' (in loc.). In His risen life our Lord is set free to resume His face-to-face fellowship with God (John 1:1) and His preoccupation with the consummation of God's eternal purpose. In this respect He presents a pattern for the believer in his expectation of the future and also in his motivation for life in the present time (2 Cor 5:15)."
(v. 10) "The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.
(v. 11) In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
(v. 12) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."
"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires." =
Notice that the word sin, (singular), is in view which has the characteristic of being in the believer in some capacity which includes having evil desires such that it can reign as it formerly did in the mortal body of the individual before he became a believer. Hence sin can be viewed as an intrinsic part of the believer's nature. It is portrayed as having evil desires and a capacity to sin. It can reign in the believer in spite of the believer's position in Christ and His righteousness.
"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires." =
Believers are to count themselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. They are admonished not to let sin reign in their mortal bodies so that they obey the sin nature's evil desires which remains an intrinsic part of the believer.
This passage and the book of Romans indicate that in God's view an individual is declared and positioned in Christ Jesus and His righteousness when he believes. There is no indication that this a guarantee that in the believer's experience he will always live to righteousness; rather in view of frequent admonishments to the believer to live unto righteousness, just the opposite is implied in scripture as possible by the believer. Thus it is not in view here that the true believer will always behave in perfect godly righteousness all the time. The believer has to constantly choose whom he will serve.
Paul uses the verb to count, (logizomai), instead of the verb to know, as in vv. 3, (agnoeO), 6, (ginOskO) & 9, (oida). The verb to know indicates passiveness on the part of the individual with a view to acknowledging one's position that one is no longer under the control of the sin nature.
Paul uses the present tense of the verb to reckon, i.e., to count (logizomai) in 6:11 to indicate an active ongoing participation by the individual in ones experience as a result of the knowledge of one's position of no longer being under sin's control. Verse 11 commands the believer to reckon/count his position in Christ. He must follow through on his knowledge that in his position he has 'died with Christ' and 'will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection' and that his 'old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin.' The believer must choose daily to do good and not choose to do evil.
Verses 2, ('We died to sin'), and 6, ('Our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin') indicate that the control of the sin nature was broken so that believers should no longer be slaves to sin. The word should, (subjunctive mood), indicates that there is a possibility that he might or might not comply. So this passage does not to say that the believer does not nor will not ever commit acts of sin, but instead it indicates that he has the capacity to commit acts of evil but should not.
Hence the believer is in Christ Jesus and His righteousness in the believer's eternal position, but not in every moment of his experience in his mortal body. The reign of the sin nature within the believer was broken when he believed, but the believer can still let that sin nature reign once more in his daily experience in his mortal body from moment to moment. This is why Paul commands the believer, 'Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.'
"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires." =
Therefore.... since Christ died to sin once for all but lives to God in righteousness and in the same way since believers are to count themselves dead to sin - to the reign of the sin nature within themselves, but alive to God in Christ Jesus - in His righteousness, then - in view of believers' position in Christ Jesus and His righteousness, believers are therefore not to let sin reign in their mortal bodies in their daily experience. So believers are left with a choice - they can live in accordance with the righteousness of their eternal position in Christ Jesus or let sin reign once again in their mortal bodies in their daily experience.
Notice that just as Christ died to sin, (v. 10), and now lives to God in an intimate relationship; in the same way the believer is to emulate Christ by not letting sin reign in his mortal body so that he too can live to God in a close intimate fellowship with Him.
"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires." =
A comparison is evident here. Since Christ died once for all and now lives the life to God implying an intimate fellowship with Him, so in the same way the believer is to count himself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The believer more specifically is not to let sin reign in his mortal body in order to live to God in righteousness. Just as Christ living to God implies an intimate fellowship with God, so it is with the believer who emulates our Lord.
[BKC, op. cit., p. 463]:
6:12. The attitude of mind that a believer has died to sin must be translated into action in his experience. Paul commanded, Therefore do not let sin reign (pres. imper., 'do not let sin continue to reign') as it did before salvation. The present imperative negative can also be translated, 'Stop letting sin reign.' When sin reigns in people's lives and bodies, they obey its evil desires. Sin enclaves (v. 6), making a person subject to his own desires. Epithymia refers to 'longings' or 'desires,' which may be either good or evil, depending on how the word is used. Here, in the case of sin, the desires are evil. In your mortal body means that sin manifests itself through one's physical actions in this body. The Greek here stresses that the body is mortal or dying. Perhaps this suggests the foolishness of giving in to the desires of a body that is transitory and decaying. To give in to a dying master is strange indeed."
[Everett F. Harrison states, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol 10, Frank E. Gaebelein, Editor, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1976, pp. 71-72]:
"11-14 In the previous section [8-10] Paul has been imparting information on the subject of union with Christ, and agreeable to this he has three times used the word 'know' (vv. 3, 6, 9). Now he employs a different key word - 'count' or 'reckon' (the same term used so often in chapter 4 in connection with righteousness). Reckoning does not create the fact of union with Christ but makes it operative in one's life. The charge to count oneself dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus is the present tense, indicating a necessity to keep up the process if one is to avoid reactivating the body of sin. Paradoxically, the Christian is dead and alive at the same time, as in Galatians 2:20, dead to sin and self but alive and responsive to God. He is to give no more response to sin than a dead man can give. On the other hand, all the potential that redeemed life affords is to be channeled God ward.
Since Paul seems to lay considerable stress on the importance of this process of counting or reckoning, we should inquire about its value - especially in view of the objection that such a process smacks of attempting to convince oneself of something unrealistic in terms of actual experience and so amounts to self-deception. The justification for the use of their terminology is at least threefold. First, this is a command freighted with apostolic authority. God is speaking through his servant, and what God commands must be efficacious. It must never be treated as frivolous. Second, the command is psychologically sound, for what we think tends to be carried out in action. The thought is father to the act. Third, this process must not be undertaken in a mechanical fashion, as though there were some sort of magic in going through the motions. One must really desire to have freedom from sin and to live responsibly to God. To that end he must avail himself of the means of grace, particularly the diligent use of Scripture and faithfulness in prayer.
The element of willing cooperation receives emphasis in v. 12. The implication is that sin has been reigning. The believer must do his part by refusing obedience any longer to sin's enticements. The word 'obey' has as its root idea 'listening' or 'heeding.' If the body is kept mortified, it will have no ear for the subtle suggestions of evil. Paul here describes the body as 'mortal' - a reminder that despite the glorious asset of being united to Christ, we are still living in a frail instrument subject to the ultimate call of death."
(v. 10) "The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.
(v. 11) In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
(v. 12) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."
(v. 13) Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness."
"Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness" =
Notice that the parts of the believer's body can be offered in service to the sin nature or not. Thus the body is a separate entity from the intrinsic sinful nature within man. Hence the parts of the believer's body are not sinful in and of themselves, nor part of the sinful nature. They can however be used by the believer as instruments of sin but must not be. The English rendering "do not present" of "mEde paristanete" is literally "nor continue to present" or better rendered "stop presenting" which implies that believers do have an ongoing capacity and tendency to offer the parts of their bodies to sin as instruments of wickedness; but they are commanded not to do so.
Verse 13 emphasizes the message of verse 12 by repeating it in more specific terms: (From verse 12's, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body"; to verse 13's "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin." This message is one of the key points which is emphasized throughout Romans chapter 6.
B) THE BELIEVER IS COMMANDED TO OFFER THE PARTS OF HIS BODY TO GOD AS INSTRUMENTS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
"Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness." =
The believer is not to offer the parts of his body to sin. He is to offer them instead to God as instruments of righteousness. Romans chapter six provides a perspective of the believer's position in Christ whereby as a result of his knowledge of his eternal position in Christ and His righteousness, he is to "walk in newness of life", (v. 4), and to count himself "alive to God in Christ Jesus", (v. 11). Verse 13 repeats this command in a more specific way:
"Offer yourselves to God... offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness."
"Offer" = "parastEsate", aorist, active, imperative. Aorist tense signifies a completed action. Together with the imperative mood, this verb is a command of the believer to make a completed action, i.e., a once for all time offer of the parts of the body to God. So all of the believer's parts from his head to his toes, every thought, word and deed as expressed in those parts are to be offered to God once for all time, i.e., activated in conformance with the standards of God's righteousness which he is already eternally credited with.
"Offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness." =
A motivating factor for the believer to offer himself to God is "as those who have been brought from death to life." So the believer is to offer the parts of his body to God as instruments of righteousness as a result of considering his knowledge of the change of his position from a destiny of eternal death, i.e., forever separated from God and under His eternal condemnation to a destiny of eternal life and forever to be in the presence of God, under His eternal blessing.
This offering of oneself to God in view of one's changed eternal position implies a motivation of gratitude and duty to God.
[BKC, op. cit., p. 463]:
"613. Actually this verse repeats the command of verse 12 in more specific terms. Do not offer (lit., 'do not cointinue to present,' or 'stop presenting') the parts of your body (lit., 'your members'; cf. v. 19) to sin, as instruments (hopla, frequently in military context, 'weapons' or 'armor'; cr. 13:12; 2 Cor 6:7; 10:4) of wickedness (adikias, 'unrighteousness' in contrasting parallelism with righteousness, later in Rom 6:13). On the contrary, in sharp contrast, Paul commanded, offer (aorist imper., 'present once and for all'; also used in v. 19) yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life (lit., 'as if being alive oiut from dead ones'; cf. John 5:24) and offer the parts of your body (lit., 'and your members') to Him as instruments (hopla) of righteousness (dikaiosynes). A related passage is Paul's exhortation, 'Offer your bodies as living sacrifices... to God' (Rom 12:1). Because they were once dead in sin (cf. Eph 2:1) but have been given new life (Rom 6:11) believers ought to live for God. Their bodies should be used not for sin (v. 12) or unrighteousness (v. 13) but for promoting righteouisness (cf. 'bodies' and 'body'; 7:5, 23; 1 Cor 6:15)."
[Everett F. Harrison states, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol 10, Frank E. Gaebelein, Editor, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1976, p. 72]:
"Turning from the body as a whole to its separate members, Paul admonishes his readers not to hand these ove to sin (the old master). But this is only half of the Christian's obligation. On the positive side, he is to offer himself (his personality and life-potential) to God with, as a corollary, the separate bodily capacities 'as instruments of righteousness.' The word 'offer,' by virtue of its tense, 'implies a critical resolve, a decision of surrender' (Moule). This passage prepares the way for a similar emphasis in 12:1.
(v. 10) "The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.
(v. 11) In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
(v. 12) Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
(v. 13) Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
(v. 14) For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."
"Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." =
"For" = because, refers back to verses 10-13 which have in view the believer's standing in Christ and His righteousness providing him with the new possibility to live outside of the mastership of the sin nature as he offers the parts of his body to God moment to moment.
"For sin shall not be your master because you are not under law, but under grace." =
"shall not" = "kurieusei", future, active, indicative mood. This verb is a statement of fact indicating that sin will not be in control of the individual for those moments he chooses to offer the parts of his body to God as instruments of righteousness. Notice that sin not being master over the believer is conditioned upon those moments when the believer offers the parts of his body to God as instruments of righteousness for those moments in time.
Note that this is not to say that once the control of the sin nature has been crucified with Christ, that the believer cannot re-enslave himself to it from moment to moment. But he is no longer and never permanently enslaved to it once he becomes a believer.
"For sin shall not be your master because you are not under law, but under grace" =
"not under law" = "ou ..gar este .......hupo ..nomon" =
..................................not for .you are .under law"
Notice there is no definite article accompanying the word rendered "law" above signifying law in general, i.e., any set of rules to live by.
The sin nature will not be master of the individual when he becomes a believer. Furthermore, the believer is no longer under law, a set of rules to live by, in order to be saved. As a matter of fact, any rules one must live by condemn the individual because of his failure to keep them before God.
The implication here is that while an individual is under law, sin becomes one's master. This leads to the conclusion that law, i.e., a set of rules to live by, causes an individual under such law to commit acts of sin all the more and in such a manner that law and sin control that individual. Hence we are led to understand that within the individual is a nature which compels him to sin all the more when under law. The guilt of constantly breaking such law keeps the individual enslaved and under condemnation.
"The Law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more."
Notice that individuals are condemned by the sin nature all the more whenever any law is added because where law is added, the sin nature causes man to trespass, thus condemning him all the more before God because of his increased acts of trespass.
As a believer, the individual is now under grace, God's forgiveness, justification and free covering of the penalty for all of his sins, past, present and future. Wherein "sin increased, grace increased all the more" to cover those sins and maintain the righteous standing of the believer before God for all eternity. Thus the believer is no longer condemned under the Mosaic Law nor any law nor is he enslaved to the sin nature which produces that condemnation.
[BKC, op. cit., p. 464]:
"6:14. God's design is that sin shall not be your master (kyrieusei; 'shall not rule as lord'; cf. v. 9). The reason this should not happen is that you are not under Law, but under grace. Paul had already explained that 'the Law was added so that the trespass might increase' (5:20), and elsewhere he declared, 'The power of sin is the Law' (1 Cor 15:56). If believers were still under the Law, it would be imposssible to keep sin from exercising mastery. But since believers are 'under grace,' this can be done by following Paul's instructions."
[Everett F. Harrison states, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol 10, Frank E. Gaebelein, Editor, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Mi, 1976, p. 72]:
"Paul concludes this portion of text with encouragement and an incentive. He promises the Roman Christians that if they will do as he has enjoined, sin will not be their master, and he adds, 'because you are not under law, but under grace' (v. 14). What is the relevance of this closing observation?" Why should law be injected here? Surely because under law sin increases (5:20; cf. 1 Cor 15:56). The inference is that law lords it over its subjects It condemns and brings them into virtual slavery. It faces them with their guilt and uses that guilt as a manacle to keep them in helpless subjection. But udner grace there is liberty to live in accord with a higher principle - the resurrection life of the Lord Himself.
It is worthy of attention that Christians are said to be under grace. Usually grace indicates a principle of divine operation, a moving out in kindness and love to lift the sinful and unworthy to God. Occasionally it is used of the sphere of the believer's life of privilege (5:2). But here is 6:14 it appears as a disciplinary power, in line with the apostle's effort to show that grace is not license (6:1ff). Somewhat parallel is the word of Jesus to the weary and burdened, promising rest, but followed up with mention of his yoke (Matt 11:28-30). Related also is Paul's reminder that God's grace has appeared for the salvation of all, training us to live sober, upright, and godly lives (see Titus 2:11, 12)."
(v. 14) "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.
(v. 15) What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!"
A) SHOULD
THE BELIEVER CONSIDER PERFORMING AN ACT OF SIN AT ANY TIME IN ANY CASE?
"Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?" =
"Shall we sin" = "oun hamartEsOmen", aorist tense = completed action. Paul's question "Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?" in the aorist tense asks, 'Should the believer consider performing an act of sin at any time or in any given case?.'
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!" =
"The reason why Paul asks the believer "shall we sin" is that the believer in fact is "not under law", i.e., any rules to live by in order to attain eternal life. He us under grace wherein God freely covers all sins the believer commits even after he becomes a believer, (cp. 5:20-21). This ever covering grace leaves the believer in his eternal position as righteous as His Son is with Whom the believer died when he believed - no matter what. But the question that Paul poses reflects on the wisdom of doing this. And his answer is "By no means" = "mE genoito" = 'absolutely not!'
[BKC, op. cit., p. 464]:
"6:15-16. The mention that believers are 'under grace' (v. 14) raised another aberrant idea that the apostle refuted. The question is, Shall we sin because we are ... under grace instead of the Law? The Greek aorist (past) tense here may have the sense of committing an act of sin now and then, in contrast to living a life of sin as stated in verse 1. Paul's response was the same as before (v. 2): By no means! (mE genoito..)"
[Expositors, op. cit., pp. 72-73]:
"Paul has just affirmed, 'You are not under the law.' He goes on to show that this does not mean that they are free from the demands of righteousness. It would be strange and contradictory if those who are under grace should evidence a manner of life inferior to the standard held by those who are under law. As a matter of fact, the believer must face the fact that his salvation actually means a change of bondage. As he once served sin, he is now committed to a life of practical righteousness.
At first glance, the opening question seems virtually a repetition of v. 1. The difference, however, lies in the tense of the verb. In v. 1 the question was 'Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?' Now the question is 'Shall we sin [in any given case, or sin at all] because we are not under law but under grace?' "
(v. 14) "For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
(v. 15) What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
(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?"
"Don't you know" = "ouk oidate...........hoti" =
...................................."not do you know that"
"ouk oidate" = "perceive intuitively"
Paul answers his own question with the Greek verb "oidate" which means to perceive intuitively which here implies that which is self-evident:
"Don't you know, i.e., is it not self-evident that one is a slave to the one he offers to obey as a slave.
"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?" =
Paul paints an absolute picture here: either one is a slave to sin leading to death or to obedience to God leading to righteousness. There is no middle ground. When there is a single moment of sin in ones life that is not accounted for by God, then one is a slave to sin which leads to death.
C) SLAVERY TO SIN LEADS TO DEATH
"whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death" =
Any commission of sin is slavery to sin which leads to death in a number of ways. Physical death is the inevitable result of sin which all men must face at some time because all have sinned in Adam, (5:12), and continue to commit acts sin in their lives. Individuals including believers who commit acts of sin to a great degree face early physical death. Furthermore, every unaccounted for sin in the life experience of any individual produces a separation from God, i.e., a temporary out of fellowship condition = a temporal death, if you will until it is reconciled with Him. Finally, from an eternal perspective, sins which are not accounted for relative to one's personal forgiveness & eternal destiny lead to eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire until the individual is personally forgiven by God via a moment of faith alone in Christ alone at some time in the mortal lifetime of the individual.
Hence every sin puts an individual into a status of slavery to sin inevitably leading to death, i.e., separation from the fellowship of God, totally outside and opposite to the realm of His righteousness.
D) SLAVERY TO OBEDIENCE TO GOD LEADS TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
"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?" =
On the other hand, an act of obedience to God which is tantamount to submission to slavery to obedience to God leads inevitably to righteous godly behavior. This inevitable result is implied as something the individual should know as self-evident.
[BKC, op. cit., p. 464]:
"Again he [Paul] proceeded to explain why that idea cannot be accepted. He asked, Don't you know ('perceive intuitively' a self-evident truth; cf. 6:9) that in effect there is no middle ground between being a slave to sin and a slave to obedience to God. As the Lord Jesus said, 'No one can serve two masters.. You cannot serve both God and money' (Matt 6:24; Luke 16:13). Paul also pointed out that being a slave to sin leads to death (cr. Rom 6:21, 23). This is not physical death only, but death in general as the natural consequence and inevitable concomitant of sin (cf. Gen 2:17). On the other hand being a slave to obedience (to God and His gospel obviously) leads to righteousness (again righteousness in the general sense as equivalent to eternal life or glorification). Death is the normal consequence of sin (which is disobeying God); righteousness is the normal consequence of obeying God and living for Him."
[Expositors, op. cit., p. 73]:
"In answer [to the question that if one is not under law but under grace should one sin], Paul appeals first of all to a fact familiar to all - namely, that whatever one submits to becomes his master. Jesus had taught this by saying,
'Everyone who sins is a slave to sin' (John 8:34). To commit sin, then, puts one into bondage to sin, and the sequel is death (cf. 5:12; 8:13). The other option is a life of obedience resulting in righteousness (cf. 5:19). Paul is happy to acknowledge that his readers have renounced the service of sin and are not wholeheartedly obeying Christian teaching (v. 17). Let us take special note of the way he puts the matter, especially because of KJV's mistranslation at this point: 'that form of doctrine which was delivered you.' In some other context Paul might have expressed himself that way, because he frequently spoke of Christian tradition, that which had been handed down to the church as apostolic teaching. But here the normal order is reversed - 'you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.' By virtue of becoming Christians, the believers had obligated themselves to obey what we might call the law of Christ (Gal 6:2). Even though he had not founded the Roman church, Paul was confident that those who had preached the gospel there and taught the converse had reproduced the characteristic teaching that had been standard from the beginning (Acts 2:42). Just as the gospel had certain ingredients (they are the substratum of 6:1-5, namely, Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, as in 1 Cor 15:3, 4), so the teaching relating to the life the believer was expected to live was standard throughout the church... Though the language may vary somewhat, the content is the same from writer to writer. This is the point being made in the use of the word 'form.'
The teaching of Jesus and the apostles, especially in terms of the demands of discipleship, the ethical requirements of the faith, and the principles that must guide believers in their relations one to the other and to the world became in time so definite and fixed that one could go from one area of the church to another and find the same general pattern. The law was a fixed, definite entity with precepts and prohibitions. Grace has its norms also."
(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?
(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."
A) BELIEVERS ARE IN VIEW AS HAVING PREVIOUSLY BEEN ENSLAVED TO SIN
"But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin" =
Believers are in view in this passage as having previously been enslaved to sin such that everything they did was under the rulership of their intrinsic sin natures. But no longer. Paul gives thanks to God that they used to be slaves to sin.
B) BELIEVERS USED TO BE SLAVES TO SIN
"But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin" =
Paul thanks God that the believers in Rome departed from their enslavement to sin, which Paul earlier implied, occurred at a moment in time when one became a believer, (ref 6:2-3, 6-7, 11).
C) OBEDIENCE TO THE FORM OF TEACHING OF GOD'S WORD TO WHICH ONE IS ENTRUSTED LEADS TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
(16b) "whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (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" =
Paul indicates that the Roman believers wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which they were entrusted. Since Paul had not visited the church in Rome as yet, evidently others had provided a form of teaching God's Word which was entrusted to the Roman believers which they wholeheartedly obeyed. Considering verse 15 which contains the phrase, "obedience, which leads to righteousness", and v. 16b quoted above, we see that Paul implies that obedience to the form of teaching of God's Word given to the Roman believers produced righteousness in the Roman believers. Hence we are provided with a method by which believers are to attain righteousness: obey the form of teaching of God's Word to which one is entrusted.
[BKC, op. cit. p. 464]:
"6:17-18. This discussion reminded the Apostle Paul of what the grace of God had already accomplished in his readers' lives and he burst forth in praise. Before they responded to the gospel they had been slaves to sin, but they wholeheartedly (lit., 'out from hearts,' thus inwardly and genuinely, not merely externally) obeyed (cf. 'obedience' in 1 Peter 1:2) the form of teaching to which they were entrusted. Hearing the teaching of God's Word, they committed themselves to those truths."
"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
(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?
(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.
(v. 18) You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness."
A) THE BELIEVER HAS BEEN SET FREE FROM SIN IN THE SENSE THAT SIN NO LONGER REIGNS OVER HIM
"You have been set free from sin" =
"eleutherOthentes" = lit., "you who were set free", aorist, nominative participle
Paul reiterates that the believer has been set free from sin in the sense that sin (sin, singular = the sin nature), no longer reigns over him, (cp. 6:2-3, 6-7, 11). The aorist tense which portrays a completed action punctuates this by providing a once for all time, completed action, of being freed from sin at the point when one became a believer at the moment of faith alone in Christ alone. In view of the context throughout this chapter, Paul continues to have the believer's position in view of no longer being enslaved to the sin nature within him. Yet the is also portrayed in this passage as still vulnerable to committing acts of sin from moment to moment within that freedom.
B) BELIEVERS
HAVE BECOME SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
"You were set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness" =
Paul introduces a new point - that the individual went in a moment of time from being a slave to sin to a slave of righteousness when he believed. This position of enslavement to righteousness is presented as mutually exclusive from the believer's former position of enslavement to sin. On the other hand, Romans chapter 6 does not present a picture of sinless perfection in the believer's mortal life experience. Verses 12-14 command the believer not to let sin reign in his mortal body, and not to offer the parts of his body to sin as instruments of wickedness. From this we can infer that the believer became a slave to righteousness through being placed under the sovereignty of God and His righteousness; but he has the latitude to offer the parts of his body to sin as instruments of wickedness from moment to moment.
"Have become slaves to righteousness" = "edoulOthEte", aorist, passive, indicative.
Notice that the action in view here is a statement of fact, (indicative mood) of the believer being placed as a completed action, i.e., once for all time, (aorist tense) by someone outside of the believer, (passive voice), i.e., by God under the enslavement of righteousness, i.e., under God's righteous sovereignty which demands godly righteousness.
[BKC, op. cit., p. 464]:
"The result was that they have been set from sin and have become slaves (past tense in Gre.) to righteousness (Cf. Rom 6:22). This is positional and must be manifested in daily experience, but it demonstrates again that there is no middle ground. Christians are not to give in to sin because they are dead to it and no longer slaves of it. It is totally contrary to God's plan for slaves of righteousness to become enslaved to sin!"
(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.
(v. 18) You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
(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, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness."
A) THE ROMAN BELIEVERS ARE ADDRESSED IN HUMAN TERMS BECAUSE THEY ARE WEAK IN SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT
" I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves." =
Paul writes that he is putting his explanation to the Roman believers of their spiritual position in human terms, i.e., in terms of their 'natural selves'. The phrase 'natural selves' has in view their non-spiritual, human viewpoint understanding. This implies that the Roman believers were not mature in their spiritual discernment on this particular issue. This conclusion is supported by the phrase 'because you are weak in your natural selves', i.e., your human viewpoint, carnal reasoning makes you weak in your discernment of spiritual truths.
Paul's statement previous to this, 'you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness', is qualified by the phrase, 'in human terms'. It is a direct, confrontational and blunt statement purposed to punctuate through the spiritual dullness of the Roman Christians. To tell someone that he has become a slave to righteousness is strong language purposed to get the carnal believer's attention. It is also positionally true: the believer actually is under the enslavement/control of God's sovereign righteousness and hence held accountable for any unrighteous actions.
[BKC, op. cit., p. 464]:
"The word 'slavery' appropriately describes an unregenerate person's relationship to sin and to Satan. So Paul used 'slavery' for contrasting the relationship of the believer as well. Before developing this idea further, the apostle in effect apologized for its use - I put this in human terms (lit., 'I am speaking in human fashion') - because you are weak in your natural selves (lit., 'your flesh). Apparently Paul felt that his readers' spiritual perception was feeble so he used this terminology from human experience."
[Expositor's, op. cit., p. 74]:
"19, 20. Reviewing his own remarks, Paul grants that he has spoken 'in human terms' (v. 19). This is really a kind of apology... for having described Christian life in terms of servitude to righteousness....
Paul gives as a reason for using the reference to slavery, 'because you are weak in your natural selves.' The nature of the weakness is not expressed - whether it relates to comprehension, so needing an illustration such as slavery, or whether it refers to moral fiber. At any rate, the weakness of the Roman Christians has called for strong language to drive the point home."
"Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and ever increasing wickedness" =
Paul provides a picture of the believer's life before he became a believer. This picture was one of slavery to impurity where the individual offered the parts of his body in slavery to impurity, i.e., everything he did was under the control of the sin nature, even the human good he did.
Furthermore, the unsaved individual's enslavement to impurity was a progressively increasing enslavement of wickedness as his life apart from God continued.
[BKC, op. cit., p. 464]:
[Paul] "Basically repeated the ideas of verses 16-17. Unsaved Romans had offered their bodies to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness (lit., 'lawlessness'; cf. 1:24-27; 6:13). They had voluntarily become enslaved! But Paul exhorted believers now to offer themselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness (perfect holiness, as the end of the process [cf. v. 22]) in contrast with their former impurity."
"Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness." =
So now that you are a believer, Paul says, offer the parts of your body in slavery to righteousness instead of to impurity and ever-increasing wickedness.
The phrase 'leading to holiness' indicates that offering the parts of ones body in slavery to righteousness leads to a status of holiness - the standard of God's righteousness. Notice that the phrase "leading to holiness" parallels "and to ever-increasing wickedness," implying that offering the parts of ones body in slavery to righteousness produces a progressively increasing righteousness which in turn leads to godly holiness.
The believer is now under the authority of God the Holy Spirit which gives to the child of God the latitude of obeying righteousness and receive blessing or of disobeying and thereby re-enslaving himself momentarily to the lust patterns of his sin nature which still exists within him, (Ro 6:16, Romans chapter 7), and thus to receive God's discipline, (Heb 12:1-15; Pr 3:11-12), until he confesses to release the discipline, (1 Jn 1:9), and again walks by faith in righteousness energized by his study and obedience to God's Word, (Eph 5:25-26), which is motivated by his love for the Lord Jesus Christ his Savior, (Gal 5:6b). Incidentally the human good that unbelievers and out-of-fellowship, (carnal), believers do is evil in the sight of God - it comes out of one's slavery to the sin nature whether temporary or permanent:
"Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."
Believers often volunteer temporarily to be re-enslaved/controlled by their own sin natures, (cp. Ro 6:16, 1 Jn 1:8,10). As a matter of fact, if one were to examine each item of human good that every unbeliever and carnal believer does one would find an element of mental attitude sin such as pride or a sin of omission/commission. Human good is often based on the substitution of one's own 'common sense' human viewpoint efforts for divine viewpoint from Scripture, (Eph 2:10) - something which is always emanating out of one's slavery to the old sin nature. Believers, however, despite appearances and the opinions of others, are still under the absolute control of God the Holy Spirit. So believers do have the latitude to sin and they do sin, (1 Jn 1:8, 10), for they retain their old sin natures which they inherited within their genes, (which are in every cell of their being), from Adam, (Ro 5:12). Christians who are out of fellowship with God - who sin - are immediately under God's discipline, (Heb 12:1-15; Pr 3:11-12).
(v. 8) '''For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--
(v. 9) not by works, so that no one can boast.
(v. 10) For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
[Note that believers have become God's workmanship in the sense that they are new creations, new creatures - in Christ Jesus, unique having been placed into the body of Christ, neither Jew nor Gentile, but a third kind of human being who is unique in the sense that he is a part of the body of Christ]
(v. 11) Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)--
(v. 12) remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
(v. 13) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.'''
(v. 12) "Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.
(v. 13) Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh.
(v. 14) May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
(v. 15) Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation."
(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;
["inner being" = a consciousness in the mind of the believer that delights 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.
(v. 24) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
(v. 25) Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."
["the law of sin at work within my members"
&
"So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin." =
Since the members of the human body have no capacity in and of themselves to decide to be enslaved to the law of sin, then this activity must come from the individual's mind which controls their actions. which then translates to sinful behavior. Scripture teaches that in the absence of the Spirit's influence, the individual inevitably follows the law of sin which is demonstrated within the body's members. Hence this tendency is described by Paul as "the law of sin at work within my members" and "in the sinful nature [I am] a slave to the law of sin." The law of sin is thus visibly demonstrated "in the members of" the believer's body" as a result of the decision in the mind for the moment to be enslaved to sin and commit sinful acts]
(v. 14) "For this reason I kneel before the Father,
(v. 15) from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
(v. 16) I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
(v. 17) so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
["strengthen you with the power through His Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." = Notice that the Holy Spirit works in the inner being of a believer so that Christ may dwell in the believer's heart, i.e., his mental consciousness.
(In
Scripture the heart is equated with the mind
)
(v. 17 cont.) so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
(v. 18) may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
(v. 19) and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
(v. 20) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,
(v. 21) to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
(v. 1) "Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives,
(v. 2) when they see the purity and reverence of your lives.
(v. 3) Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes.
(v. 4) Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.
["inner self" = notice that the inner self is described here as of "a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight." ]
(v. 5) For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands,
(v. 6) like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear."
(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.
(v. 18) You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
(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, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
(v. 20) When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness."
A) BELIEVERS WERE FORMERLY SLAVES TO SIN
"When you were slaves to sin you were free from the control of righteousness" =
Paul once again emphasizes the believer's position before he became a believer: he was a slave to sin, i.e., the sin nature within him and thus free from the control of righteousness. The sin nature dictated his actions all the time such that he was constantly sinful. Even the human good that he did was motivated out of the sin nature and not out of a motivation of God's righteousness. For at no time is the unsaved individual under the control of God's righteousness.
[BKC, op. cit., pp. 464-5]:
"Paul once again stated that slavery to sin and to righteousness are mutually exclusive (cf. vv. 13, 16). But he went on to indicate the superiority of being enslaved to righteousness and God."
(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.
(v. 18) You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
(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, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
(v. 20) When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
(v. 21) What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!"
A) PAUL EXHORTS BELIEVERS TO STAY AWAY FROM OFFERING THE PARTS OF THEIR BODIES TO SIN
"What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are not ashamed of? Those things result in death." =
Paul poses a rhetorical question to motivate the believer away from sin and toward righteousness. His question stipulates that the Roman believers were now ashamed of their former lifestyle which was enslaved to sin. Furthermore, Paul declares that those things which characterize a lifestyle under the slavery of the sin nature result in death, i.e., separation from God via physical death; even eternal death if one dies in slavery to sin, having never believed in Christ as Savior.
Hence Paul presents to believers the benefit of slavery to sin: death. He does this for the purpose of exhorting believers, in view of the fact that they are no longer slaves to sin, i.e., the sin nature, to now offer the parts of their body in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
(v. 20) When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
(v. 21) What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
(v. 22) But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God" =
Paul describes the believer's condition of having died to sin (aorist tense: a one time completed action for all time at the point he became a believer), (v. 2), i.e., having been set free from the absolute control of the sin nature, (aorist tense: completed action for all time), (v. 18), once again in verse 22:
"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God"
Thus Paul states that the result of a believer being set free from sin is to become a slave to God. The phrase "have become slaves to God" is paralleled by and equated to the second half of verse 18:
"You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness", i.e., slaves to the rule of godly righteousness in the believer's life.
The verbs in 'Have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness' are both aorist participles which define a completed action once for all time at the time one becomes a believer. Hence an ongoing action is ruled out.
Notice that the rule of godly righteousness in the believer's life does not exclude the capacity of that believer to offer the parts of his body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, (v. 13), from moment to moment. The latter Paul commands the believer not to choose to do, but he has to make that choice every day.
"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness" =
The benefit individuals reap as a result of becoming a believer is that of being set free from sin and becoming slaves to God. Being a slave to God is being under the direction of the sovereign control of God's righteousness, (v. 18). God's righteous control of the believer moves the believer in the direction of righteousness which leads the believer to holiness. i.e., godly behavior in the believer's experience. Nevertheless, the believer has a choice to make:
to (v. 13) "offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God."
"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." =
The moment one becomes a believer one is set free from slavery to sin and enslaved instead to the sovereign righteous rule of God. Such a position benefits the believer in such a way that can lead to holiness. The result of the believer's position of enslavement to God results in eternal life.
Notice that the position of the believer under the enslavement of the sovereign righteous rule of God which was permanently established at the moment one became a believer results in eternal life. It is not a product of a faithful lifestyle, but exclusively a result of one's position of being under the righteousness enslavement of God by the grace of God, (v. 5:20-21).
Since there is no condition presented here in order to maintain the believer's benefit of eternal life, then it is eternally secure.
(v. 20) "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
(v. 21) What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
(v. 22) But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
(v. 23) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
(v. 22) "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (v. 23) For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." =
The believer is motivated to offer the parts of his body to holiness, (19c), in view of the fact that he has 'been set free from sin', 'become slaves to God', 'and the result is eternal life', (v. 22); and in view of the fact that 'the wages of sin is death' and the 'gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord', (v. 23).
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." =
Death is in view here in opposition to eternal life. Hence death in this verse translates to eternal death - eternal separation from God in Hell.
The wages of sin is eternal death. But since God's grace through Christ Jesus covers those sins of the believer, then this is not to say that the believer who sins will earn the wages of eternal death in hell.
Recall 5:20-21 which has believers in view when it says "where sin increased, God's grace [to cover those sins of the believer] increased all the more, so that.... grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." So the believer is secure in his eternal life even if his sins increase because it is permanently secured "through Jesus Christ our Lord". Eternal life is not therefore maintained or lost as a result of the believer's own actions:
"The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
"But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." =
Eternal life is a gift, it is free by definition - no strings attached. That is what the word 'gift' means. And it is through Christ Jesus our Lord alone and thus not dependent upon what the believer does or does not do.