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Matthew Timothy Short
Huh?
Date Joined Apr 2002
Total Posts : 635
| Posted 2/23/2003 4:17 PM (GMT -6) |   | David Guzik Study Guide for Romans Chapter 6
Romans 6 - Made Safe for Grace
A. The believer under grace and the problem of habitual sin
1. (1) The problem presented
a. Paul has introduced the idea that where sin abounded, grace abounded much more (Romans 5:20); he now wonders if someone might take what he is saying to imply that it doesn't matter if a Christian lives a life of sin; God's grace will overcome it anyway with greater grace
b. The idea is expressed in the statement, "I love to sin, and God loves to forgive - what a perfect arrangement!"
i. The Russian monk Gregory Rasputin taught and lived the idea of salvation through repeated experiences of sin and repentance. He believed that, as those who sin most require most forgiveness, a sinner who continues to sin with abandon enjoys more of God's grace (when he repents for the moment) than the ordinary sinner. Therefore, Rasputin lived a life of notorious sin, and taught that this was the way to salvation - an extreme example of the Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound idea.
c. The verb tense of continue in sin (present active tense) makes it clear that Paul is talking about the practice of habitual sin
2. (2) Paul's reply: Christians have died to sin, and it is unthinkable that anyone who has died to sin can continue their former practice of sin
a. At this point, Paul has much to explain about what exactly he means by died to sin, but the general point is clear - Christians have died to sin, and they should no longer live in it
b. Before, we were dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1); now we are dead to sin
3. (3-4) The illustration of the believer's death to sin: baptism
a. The idea behind the Greek word for baptized is "to immerse or overwhelm something," and the Bible uses this idea of being baptized into something in several different ways (Matthew 3:11; Mark 10:39; Acts 1:5)
b. The believer's water baptism (or, being baptized into Christ) is a dramatization of the believer's "immersion" or identification with Jesus in His death and resurrection
i. "From this and other references to baptism in Paul's writings, it is plain that he did not regard baptism as an 'optional extra' in the Christian life." (Bruce)
c. When a person is immersed under the water, they are "dead" and "buried" with Jesus; when they are raised up out of the water, they are "rise" with Jesus
i. Of course, baptism also as the association of cleansing, but that isn't particularly relevant to Paul's point here
d. In this regard, baptism is important as an illustration of spiritual reality, but it does not make that reality come to pass. If one has not spiritually died and risen with Christ, all the baptisms in the world will not do it for them
e. But Paul's point is clear: something dramatic and life-changing has happened in the life of the believer: an actual (though spiritual) death and resurrection with Jesus Christ
4. (5-10) Paul considers the implications of our death and resurrection with Jesus
a. United together expresses a close union; the phrase "exactly expresses the process by which a graft becomes united with the life of a tree . . . The union is of the closest sort, and life from Christ flows through to him" (Morris), fitting in well with Jesus' picture of abiding in Him in John 15
b. Our participation in the death of Jesus makes our participation in His resurrection a certainty
i. It is far too easy for many Christians to focus solely on the "crucified life," failing to see that it is a part (and an essential part) of a bigger picture: preparation for resurrection life
c. The death of the old man is an established fact, accomplished when we were identified with Jesus' death at our salvation
i. The old man is that self inherited from Adam, who is instinctively sinful and rebellious to God; this aspect of our person was crucified with Christ
ii. "In us there was nothing even to sicken and to weaken our old man, much less to murder him by crucifixion; God had to do this." (Lenski)
iii. In place of the old man, God has given the believer a new man - a self who is instinctively obedient and pleasing to God; this aspect of our person is that which was raised with Christ in His resurrection
iv. Descriptions of the new man: . . . the new man, which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:24) . . . the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. (Colossians 3:10)
d. God uses our death to the old man, the sin nature, as the means of our liberation from sin in Jesus Christ - something that is dead can no longer have authority over us
i. The two other places in the New Testament which mention the old man remind us to consider him done away with, telling us to put off the old man as something dead and gone (Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:9)
e. If the old man is dead, where does the impulse to sin come from within me? It comes from the flesh, which is distinct from the old man, and a moral neutral in and of itself, yet trained in sinful habits by the old man, the world and the devil
i. God calls us, in participation with Him, to do actively day by day with the flesh just what He has already done with the old man - crucify it, make it dead to sin (Galatians 5:24)
f. Jesus is our pattern: dying on account of sin (though not His own sin) once and for all, then living resurrection life to the glory of the Father
g. This essential change in the life of the one who is born again was understood and predicted as a feature of God's New Covenant, where because of new hearts, our innermost beings long to do God's will and be slaves to righteousness (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
i. The eleventh of the original 42 articles of Church of England states this truth with a beauty that only Sixteenth Century English can express: "The grace of Christ, or the holie Ghost by him geven, dothe take awaie the stonie harte, and geveth an harte of flesh."
5. (11-12) Practical application of the principle of our death and resurrection with Jesus
a. Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin - reckon is an accounting word; Paul is telling us to account or to reckon the old man as forever dead
i. Significantly, God never calls us "crucify" the old man, but instead to account him as already dead because of our identification with Jesus' death on the cross
b. Reckon yourselves to be . . . alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord - the death to sin is only one side of the equation; the old man is gone, but the new man lives on (as described in 6:4-5)
c. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body: this is something that can only be said to the Christian, to the one who has had the old man crucified with Christ and has been given a new man in Jesus
i. The Christian is the one truly set free; the unconverted person is free to sin, but not free to be righteous, because of the tyranny of the old man
ii. In Christ, we are truly set free and are offered the opportunity to obey the natural inclination of the new man - which wants to please God and honor Him
6. (13-14) How to walk in the freedom Jesus Christ has given us
a. Because of unbelief, self-reliance or ignorance, many Christians never live in the freedom Christ paid for on the cross.
i. D. L. Moody used to speak of an old black woman in the South following the Civil War. Being a former slave, she was confused about her status and asked: "Now is I free, or been I not? When I go to my old master he says I ain't free, and when I go to my own people they say I is, and I don't know whether I'm free or not. Some people told me that Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation, but master says he didn't; he didn't have any right to."
ii. That is exactly the place many Christians are. They are, and have been, legally set free from their slavery to sin, yet they are unsure of that truth.
b. The first key to walking in the freedom Jesus Christ has won for us is do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin
i. Your members are the parts of your body - your ears, lips, eyes, hands, mind, and so forth; Paul is being very practical and straightforward here
ii. Instruments could be better-translated weapons; the parts of our body are weapons in the battle for right living
iii. When we give our bodies to the service of sin, we are providing weapons for unrighteousness
c. The second key to walking in the freedom Jesus Christ has won for us is but present yourselves to God
i. It isn't enough to take the weapons away from the service of sin; they must be enlisted now in the service of righteousness - and, as in any warfare, the side with superior weapons usually wins
ii. The idea is similar to the manner in which the priests in the Old Testament had their bodies consecrated to God - sacrificial blood was applied to the ear, to their thumb, and on their big toe, showing that those parts of their body (and all other parts) belonged to God and were to be used for His glory (Exodus 29:20)
iii. Think of how God used David's hands in the slaying of Goliath for righteousness; think of how sin used David's eyes for unrighteousness when he looked upon Bathsheba
d. We present ourselves to God as being alive from the dead
i. This first has the idea that all connection with the previous life - the old man - must be done away with; it is dead and gone
ii. Secondly, it has the idea of obligation - we owe something to the One who has given us new life!
e. The means by which we can live in this freedom: for you are not under law but under grace
i. Law clearly defined God's standard, and shows us where we fall short of it, yet it cannot give the freedom from sin that grace provides
ii. Remember that grace reigns through righteousness (Romans 5:21); grace, not law provides the freedom and the power to live over sin
iii. "To treat being under grace as an excuse for sinning is a sign that one is not really under grace at all." (Bruce)
7. Summary: why don't we just continue in habitual sin so that grace may abound?
a. Because when a person is saved, when their sins are forgiven and God's grace is extended to them, they are radically changed - the old man is dead, and the new man lives
b. It is utterly incompatible for a new creation in Christ to be comfortable in habitual sin; such a place can only be temporary for the Christian
i. John puts it forcefully: Whoever abides in Him does not (habitually) sin. Whoever (habitually) sins has neither seen Him nor known Him . . . Whoever has been born of God does not (habitually) sin, for his seed remains in him; and he cannot (habitually) sin, because he has been born of God (1 John 3:6,9)
ii. As Spurgeon said: "The grace that does not change my life will not save my soul"
iii. The changes may not come all at one time, and they may not come to each area of the life at the same time, but they will be there and they will be real and they will be increasing and time goes on
c. God has made us "safe" for grace by changing us as we receive God's grace; He sets us free and equips us to live righteously before Him
d. How to walk in this freedom is a critical issue, we must avoid being enslaved by our own actions and desires once Christ has set us free
i. In the fourteenth century two brothers fought for the right to rule over a dukedom in what is now Belgium. The elder brother's name was Raynald, but he was commonly called "Crassus," a Latin nickname meaning "fat," for he was horribly obese. After a heated battle, Raynald's younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him and assumed the title of Duke over his lands. But instead of killing Raynald, Edward devised a curious imprisonment. He had a room in the castle built around "Crassus," a room with only one door. The door was not locked, the windows were not barred, and Edward promised Raynald that he could regain his land and his title any time that he wanted to. All he would have to do is leave the room of his imprisonment. The obstacle to freedom was not in the doors or the windows, but with Raynald himself. Being grossly overweight, he could not fit through the door, even though it was of near-normal size. All Raynald needed to do was diet down to a smaller size, then walk out a free man, with all he had before his fall. However, his younger brother kept sending him an assortment of tasty foods, and Raynald's desire to be free never won out over his desire to eat. Some would accuse Duke Edward of being cruel to his older brother, but he would simply reply "My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills." But Raynald stayed in that room for ten years, until Edward himself was killed in battle.
ii. What an accurate picture showing the experience of many Christians! Christ has set them forever free legally, and they may walk in that freedom from sin whenever they choose. But since they keep yielding their bodily appetites to the service of sin, they live a life of defeat, discouragement and imprisonment.
B. The believer under grace and the problem of occasional sin
1. (15) A new question is asked: shall we sin (occasionally) because we are not under law but under grace?
a. Paul has convinced us that a lifestyle of habitual sin is not compatible with one whose life has been changed by grace, but what about an occasional sin here and there? If we are under grace, not law, do we have to be all that concerned about a little sin here and there?
b. Again, the verb tense of the word sin (in the aorist active tense) lets us know that Paul is talking about a continuing dabbling in sin, not a continual habitual sin as described in 6:1
i. "The verb in verse one is in the present subjunctive, speaking of habitual, continuous action. The verb in verse fifteen is in the aorist subjunctive, referring to a single act." (Wuest)
2. (16-17) Spiritual principles we need to understand in order to answer the question
a. Whatever you present yourself to obey, you become its slave; for example, if I "obey" my appetite constantly, I am a slave to it
b. We have been freed from our slavery to sin, and we have been set free by faith (obedience from the heart) in God's Word (that form of doctrine)
3. (18) Why not then, occasionally sin? Because sin is not our master and we no longer serve it
a. What does it mean to be free from sin and to become a slave to righteousness? It means that sin is no longer your boss, now righteousness is
i. It is unfitting for you to think about pleasing your old boss when you have changed jobs
b. What does it mean to be a slave? A slave was more than an employee; Wuest defines the Greek word for a slave here by these terms: "One born into a condition of slavery; one whose will is swallowed up in the will of another; one who is bound to the master with bounds that only death can break; one who serves his master to the disregard of his own interests"
i. These things are no longer true for us in regard to sin, but they are true in regard to our slavery to righteousness
c. Because we have been set free from sin, we never have to sin again; though sin is inevitable until our flesh is resurrected in glory, it isn't because God has designed a system by which we must sin
i. Sinless perfection in this body is an illusion (If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us - 1 John 1:8); yet we know that in the power of Jesus Christ, we can resist the next temptation - and that's all Jesus wants us to be concerned with
ii. "Because of the frailty of man, the Christian at infrequent intervals does yield to the evil nature and sin. But the point is, God has so constituted him, that he need not do so." (Wuest)
d. It is mockery to tell a slave, "don't behave as a slave," but you can say that to someone who has been set free. Jesus Christ tells us to no longer behave as if we were slaves to sin.
4. (19-23) How to keep from enslaving ourselves
a. Why does Paul say, I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh? He is half apologizing for using slavery as an illustration, because it was so degrading and pervasive (many of his Roman readers would be slaves), yet he knows that it is an illustration that works well with his readers!
b. First, present your members as slaves to righteousness; don't show up for work to your old boss
i. Note that lawlessness leads to more lawlessness; righteousness leads to more righteousness
ii. Habits have power: example of four trees at different stages of growth - once it is entrenched, it can be had to get rid of
c. Paul humorously points out that previously, the only freedom they had was in regard to righteousness
d. Secondly, we must think rightly concerning sin: What fruit is there in that sin? The end product of sin is death (not fun); the end product of righteousness is eternal life
i. In the midst of temptation, these truths can seem unreal - so we must rely on our faith in these things, not on our feelings while being tempted
e. When you work for sin, your wages are death; when we serve God we get no pay - but He gives us freely the best benefit package we can imagine
i. God wants us to focus on spending time getting to know and honor our new Boss, instead of being afraid of our old boss
5. Summary: if we are under grace, not law, why should we still be zealous to live sinlessly? Because it is appropriate that we be totally committed to our new Master, Jesus Christ
God is Love,
Tim
1Jo 2:16…the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father… | | Back to Top | | |
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Laika
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 2433
| Posted 3/19/2003 4:25 AM (GMT -6) | | quote:
i. The old man is that self inherited from Adam, who is instinctively sinful and rebellious to God; this aspect of our person was crucified with Christ
Where is point 1. in Romans 6?
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Matthew Timothy Short
Huh?
Date Joined Apr 2002
Total Posts : 635
| Posted 3/20/2003 1:46 AM (GMT -6) | | A. The believer under grace and the problem of habitual sin
1. (1) The problem presented
2. (2) Paul's reply: Christians have died to sin, and it is unthinkable that anyone who has died to sin can continue their former practice of sin
3. (3-4) The illustration of the believer's death to sin: baptism
4. (5-10) Paul considers the implications of our death and resurrection with Jesus
5. (11-12) Practical application of the principle of our death and resurrection with Jesus
6. (13-14) How to walk in the freedom Jesus Christ has given us
7. Summary: why don't we just continue in habitual sin so that grace may abound?
B. The believer under grace and the problem of occasional sin
1. (15) A new question is asked: shall we sin (occasionally) because we are not under law but under grace?
2. (16-17) Spiritual principles we need to understand in order to answer the question
3. (18) Why not then, occasionally sin? Because sin is not our master and we no longer serve it
4. (19-23) How to keep from enslaving ourselves
5. Summary: if we are under grace, not law, why should we still be zealous to live sinlessly? Because it is appropriate that we be totally committed to our new Master, Jesus Christ | | Back to Top | | |
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Laika
Registered Member
Date Joined Mar 2003
Total Posts : 2433
| Posted 3/20/2003 8:28 AM (GMT -6) | | quote:
i. The old man is that self inherited from Adam, who is instinctively sinful and rebellious to God; this aspect of our person was crucified with Christ
Sorry, I meant the inheriting of the old man from Adam, where is that
in chapter 6? If you're referring to chapter 5, where are your notes
for chapter 5? I'm new, so if you've posted it before, sorry.
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Matthew Timothy Short
Huh?
Date Joined Apr 2002
Total Posts : 635
| Posted 3/20/2003 12:31 PM (GMT -6) | | My apology Laika,
Adam is a type of Christ in Rom 5:14
David Guzik Study Guide for Romans Chapter 5
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1048201607-9216.html
Adam is said to have brought sin (or death) into the world in 1Cr 15:22,45, or is "The old man I inherited from Adam, who instinctively desires to sin in rebellion to God."
Study Guide for 1 Corinthians Chapter 15
http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/c/1048202241-9562.html#159
God is Love,
Tim
2Ti 2:19…Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity... | | Back to Top | | |
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