Romans 6:1-4

Here we are in chapter six of Romans. Just about all you need to know on how to live out the life of Christ is packed into Romans chapters 5-8.

Romans 6:1-4 (NIV)
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 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, we too may live a new life.

In these verses Paul is alerting us to a fact of our Christian life and that is we who know the savior are dead to sin. The words dead to sin means sin no longer has advantage over us. This is a truth whether we feel it or not. In theological circles it is known as positional truth. You may not have experienced the truth as of yet, but that does not diminish the fact that it is true. We are no longer in bondage to sin. We can live a life free of sin. Now when I say that I am not, nor does mean perfection. It means that I do not have to practice sin. I can break off from habits that are harmful to myself and to others. The hope we have is that we are free in Christ to become like Christ beginning now and forever more. We are to live a new life. This new life in Christ changes everything for us--I mean everything!! I remember a cartoon where people are studying the Bible and the leader asks the group, "Have you died to sin?" One person said no, but I have felt a little faint at one time. In verse 2 Paul is putting this in the past tense. We died to sin! It is in the past tense. We are to believe and to practice it.



It is the great moment of our lives when we decide that sin must die right out, not be curbed or suppressed or counteracted, but crucified.

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)