Let’s just spend another day on this thought of grace abounding and the response from some, “let’s sin all the more”. Paul’s response is strong. He has brought this matter up twice now. Here in 6:1, but we first encountered it in 3:5. Paul’s response is always the same. “Of course not! By no means! Let it not be! God forbid!” He repeats it again in 6:15. The suggestion “let’s just sin then” can not come from a mind that is dependent on works for salvation. The person who is depending on good works to save them can’t afford to think in those terms. It is likely he is receiving comments to this effect but it might be that he is pre-empting such comments and thinking that some will be thinking like that.
God plan is to save us from sin.
- Saved from the punishment of sin.
- Salvation from sin’s guilt.
- Salvation from the practice of sin.
- Salvation from even the presence of sin.
Paul’s question “Should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of His wonderful grace?” is not what we should ask in the context of God’s purposes. To ask it is to prove you have missed the point of grace and of salvation.
Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined Him in His death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with Him in His death, we will also be raised to life as He was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with Him.
Romans 6:2-8
Are you getting the message? Do you catch Paul’s emphasis here? After all he has said it in every verse from 6:2 to 6:8.
Note the focus on WE. Another thing you should know is the detail related to the verb “died to sin”. The verb is in the aorist tense. This signifies the action is a single one time action and is completed in the past. Some regard “died” in other ways. Some seem to think it is present tense – we are dying to sin, or we die to sin daily. Some see it as past imperfect, that is we have died to sin at some time in the past and are dying to it every day. Some see it as future tense meaning some day we shall die to sin. NO, the tense of the verb is aorist: a finished past completed action.
Some think a true Christian should no longer be responsive to sin: The dead don’t respond to stimuli. Thus when temptation comes a true believer does not respond. But why then does Paul say “count yourselves dead to sin . . . ” “do not let sin reign . . .” “do not offer the parts of your body to sin” if sin is not a genuine temptation. Note also that Paul did not say “we ought to die to sin” rather he said “we have died”. The aorist sense of the verb refers to a past specific act in our history. What was it that we did? What was the act during which “we died to sin”? What did we do?
Ponder that.
Next time you’re tempted – Tell Satan he’s talking to a corpse.
Anon