Epistle to the Romans

Gospel Light Christian Church
Thru-The-Bible Series (8.4)

The Epistle to the Romans

Romans 6:1-10 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

Introduction:

After the statement of Apostle Paul in Romans 5:20, the question of antinomianism will arise.

The false doctrine of antinomianism teaches that since faith, for the Christian, has abolished the law, he no longer has to obey it to be saved, then he can commit sin freely. Whenever we teach the doctrine of justification by faith, the question of antinomianism is bound to arise.

Apostle Paul takes a break at this point from teaching the doctrine of justification by faith to deal with this matter. He teaches us in this chapter that the problem of antinomianism does not arise because once a person trusts in Christ, he is spiritually united to Christ – therefore, he will have Christ-like desires and does not want to sin.

Believers are Dead to Sin, Alive to God

v.1 This describes the natural man, or the carnal man’s (not the spiritual man’s) response to what was mentioned in ROM 5:20.

v.2 “God forbid that you can even imagine that God’s salvation will make a man sin more! You must be crazy to think such a thought about God! Will God save us so that we can sin more!”

"Dead to sin" should be translated: "died to sin.” The word “dead” is written in Greek in the aorist tense – which describes a finished action. Note the use of the aorist tense also in verses 6,7,8,10 and 11.

This statement obviously cannot refer to our sinful, or carnal, nature – because we all know that it is still very much alive in us. Every Christian has to battle continually against his sinful desires. Therefore, this statement refers to our legal standing, not our character. In other words, we are legally dead (ie, cut off) from Adam’s family.

v.3 The moment we receive Christ as our Saviour, we are baptised by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ (“for by one Spirit we are all baptised into one body” 1CO 12:13). Water baptism is an outward (visible) symbol of this inward (invisible) reality of our spiritual unity with Christ. In water baptism believers are immersed in water, and in a sense, we are all "united" by the water – every one in the ocean will be “united” by the water.

Before salvation we were part of the family of Adam, and therefore are partakers of his sin (ROM 5:12,18) but when we are saved by faith in Christ we become part of the Body (family) of Christ. Just as Christ’s death cut him off from being part of his earthly “father”, Joseph’s family, when we are baptised into Jesus Christ, we are cut off from being part of Adam's family. In this sense we are baptised into Christ’s death.

v.4 Burying completes the finality of death – the cutting off of all relationships to this world. When we receive Christ as our Saviour, our legal relationship with Adam is totally cut off. This is symbolised by burying. The act of immersion into the water in baptism is a beautiful picture of burying. This is one of the reasons why Baptists do not baptise by sprinkling.

And in the same way as Christ was raised up from the dead not as Joseph’s son but as Son of God, the one who trusts in Christ is no more a part of Adam’s (condemned) family but a member of Jesus’ (blessed) family, who has eternal life (ie, in newness of life).

An earthly example of what happens to new convert would be a Singaporean who revokes his citizenship and takes up American citizenship. At that moment his name is dropped from the citizenship register of Singapore and he ceases to exist as a Singaporean but appears on the American register as an American. In other words, in that moment he is cut off from the Singapore “family” and is born into the American “family.”

v.5 The phrase “planted together” means united. When we trust in Christ as our Saviour, we are immediately (spiritually) united with Him into His death and His resurrection. It is very important for us to understand that we are spiritually united with Christ, ie, we have become a part of Him. Christianity is more than a religion, it is a relationship with Christ. It is a real spiritual relationship!

v.6 Since we are no more a part of Adam’s family (ie, our old man is already crucified from Adam’s family), that body of ours which is so prone to sin will be eventually destroyed (ie, rendered inoperative) so that in the future we should not serve sin (ie, be a slave of sin). In other words, now that we are no more a part of Adam’s family and have been united to Christ’s family, we are no more slaves to Adam’s sinful desires – their control over us is destroyed. Adam’s rule over our lives is over, we are not under Christ.

This describes the on-going process of sanctification which always follows the once-and-for-all step of justification. The process of sanctification, which the Holy Spirit works in us, helps us to stop being slaves of sin (ie, henceforth we should not serve sin). An unsaved man does not have the desire nor the strength to free himself from the slavery to sin.

v.7 Just as a dead man cannot be punished by any earthly court for his crimes, the born-again man is also legally free from God’s punishment for his sins.

v.8 We are united into Christ’s death and also into His life – therefore, we become new creatures (2 CO 5:17).

v.9 Knowing that since the resurrected Christ dieth no more, we are confident that we too will die no more – because we are united with Him.

v.10 When Jesus died, he died unto sin once, ie, He died unto His relationship to sin (as the Sin-bearer). In other words, when He left this earth – all contact with sin was over. It does not mean that Christ died unto sin that was in Him (because He is sinless).

Summary

1. Most people think that Christianity is just another religion, ie, some rules to obey and rituals to perform. Therefore, when they are told that Christians are saved by faith alone and not by obeying commandments – they immediately think that it will lead to “freedom to sin.” Therefore, we must understand clearly that our salvation through faith in Christ not only imputes Christ’s righteousness to us but also brings about a spiritual union with Christ, resulting in new Christ-like desires. A genuine Christian is one who does not desire to sin because he has been given a “new heart” – with new desires.