Romans: Unplugged

Romans 6:1-14

Paul wrote the letter to the Romans around AD 58 to Christians in the capital city of the Roman Empire. He starts by proclaiming the power of the gospel—the “A-to-Z” of the Christian life (Rom. 1:16-17). To explain why we need the gospel, Paul described humanity’s helpless and hopeless spiritual condition (Rom. 1:18-3:20). Then he showed how Jesus remedied our sinful situation. Through Jesus, God forgives our sins and credits Christ’s righteousness to our accounts (Rom. 3:21-5:21). 

Romans 6 marks a new focus in Paul’s message. In chapters 6-8, Paul emphasizes understanding and living out the new life that Jesus provides. 

At the end of Romans 5, Paul highlights the greatness of God’s grace. He states, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…” (Rom. 5:20). Then, it’s as if Paul anticipates that someone might think, ‘The best way to show God’s abundant grace is to increase sin!’ He addresses this idea at the beginning of chapter 6. 

Romans 6:1-2
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 

The word “sin” (Grk: hamartia) does not refer to sinful acts like gossip or lust, but to our sinful nature that we are born with. The word “continue” is used in the New Testament to describe a person staying at a friend’s house and enjoying close fellowship. To better understand Paul’s question, let me rephrase it: “Shall we continue to stay in close friendship with our sinful nature?” He responds with the strongest Greek negative he has used before: “By no means!” (Grk: me genoito). 

Paul clarifies that, as believers, we have died to our sinful nature. In Scripture, death signifies separation. Physical death separates our spirits from our bodies, while spiritual death separates us from God. Therefore, the death of our sinful nature frees us from its power to control our lives.  

Believers are unplugged from the power source of the sinful nature. Let’s use that analogy to work our way through the following verses. 

1. God has unplugged our hearts (the control center of our lives) from the power source of our sinful nature and plugged our hearts into the power source of Jesus.

Romans 6:3-5
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Baptism in this passage does not refer to water baptism, but rather to the Spirit uniting us with Jesus. It means placing someone into a new union that changes their previous condition. God unites us with Jesus, including our identification with his death, burial, and resurrection. Paul explains that, through Jesus, our sinful nature died with him. We have been disconnected from the power of our sinful nature and connected to the power of Jesus so that we “might walk in newness of life.” 

2. Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, God has freed believers from the control of their sinful nature.

Romans 6:6-8
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

Jesus was crucified on our behalf. When we trust in him, our “old self,” which is our sinful nature, is crucified with him once and for all.[1] Because of our identification with Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, we are freed from the bondage of sin. Our “body of sin” (sinful nature) is “brought to nothing.”

This is an essential theological truth that must be understood personally. Because of Jesus, your sinful nature no longer controls you. It may call out and try to pull you back, but you don’t have to submit. Temptation doesn’t have to hold power over you. If you have trusted in Christ’s death as your own, you can now live through the power of a new, resurrected life. 

3. God has freed me from my sinful nature and made me alive in Jesus. 
   

Romans 6:9-11
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

Jesus died only once for sin. As proof of his death, he was buried. As proof that his death satisfied God’s penalty for sin, he was raised to life. Death “no longer has [power] over him.” Jesus will never die again. The life he lives now, “he lives to God.” Since God has, through Jesus, disconnected us from the source of our sinful nature and connected us to new life in him, we must understand that we are separated from our sinful natures and can live lives that please God. We are “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” 

Let’s clarify what Paul is saying: Being “dead to [our sinful nature]” doesn’t mean that our sinful nature is gone. That’s where the spiritual battle comes in. There are times when we want to ignore our new lives in Christ and return to the old desires of our sinful nature. So, Paul offers this challenge:

Romans 6:12-14
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 

Bible teacher Donald Grey Barnhouse offers a compelling analogy to help us understand this truth. He tells a story about a crew whose captain went mad during a voyage and was replaced by the first mate. The old captain had no authority; the new captain was the one to be obeyed. But Barnhouse suggested that the crew might be tempted to follow the old captain when he shouts orders. The crew needed to remember that the old captain was no longer in charge and learn to respond to the new captain’s voice. Barnhouse said: 

“Our old natures will keep on shouting out orders. But they have been stripped of all authority over us. We can obey them, but we do not have to. What we must do is to listen for the voice of our new Captain, Jesus, and choose to obey Him. He and He alone is to be obeyed, for the sin nature no longer can rule our lives.”[2] 

PERSONAL TIME WITH GOD 
Time in the Word: Read and reflect on Romans 6:1-14. Consider what our new life in Jesus looks like.

Talking to God: What areas of your life do you still “listen” to the voice of the old captain (your sinful nature)?

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