Bible Study: Romans chapter 6

Bible Study: Romans Chapter 6

by Matt Slick | Apr 13, 2023 | Bible Studies

Romans 6 speaks about our identification with Christ in baptism and being dead to sin and alive in Christ.

We are not to continue in sin (Rom. 6:1-2)
We have died to sin through Christ are our freedom from sin (Rom. 6:3-7)
We have died with Christ (Rom. 6:8-11)
Do not let sin reign in you (Rom. 6:12-14)
Rejection of the freedom to sin (Rom. 6:15-19)
We are free in Christ (Rom. 6:20-23)

You can download the Word file for this study HERE.

Romans Bible Study, Chapter 6

Therefore, What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
1. Paul switches topics from the previous chapter. He moves from the Federal Headship of Adam and Jesus (Rom. 5:15-19) to addressing our sanctification. Though we are made sinners by Adam’s sin, we were redeemed by Christ’s work. But, we are not to continue in sin.
May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
1. Died to sin
  1. Since Jesus is our Federal Head, He represented us on the cross. Since He died, we died with Him (Rom. 6:6-8). Therefore, we are dead to sin (Rom. 6:11). We have died to the guilt of sin.
  2. We are viewed by God as if we have died with Christ and are freed from the Law (Rom. 7:4). This does not mean that we are dead to the influence or power of sin, but that God sees us united to His sinless Son, Jesus.
  3. It can then be said that we “co-died” with Him. In other words, we were one with Christ in His obedience to death, as we were one with Adam in his disobedience.
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
1. Baptized into
  1. Baptism symbolizes the believer’s death with Christ to sin and the believer’s resurrection with Christ to a new life, vv. 6:3, 4. When the believing sinner is buried in the watery grave of baptism, he identifies himself with Christ’s death (thus confessing that He is dead to sin.)
2. Was not Christ’s death a death to sin? Yes, because the one who has died is no longer under the Law (Rom. 6:7; 7:4). And since the Law reveals sin (Rom. 7:7), to die means that Law has no jurisdiction over us.
  1. But then, how is an unbeliever who has died guilty of the sin by which he is judged? The unbeliever did not ‘die with Christ,’ so they have no representative. Though they have physically died, the sin debt reckoned to their account is still there. But for the Christian, the sin debt is canceled at the cross (Col. 2:14). And, since we are ‘in Christ,’ when he died and cleansed us of our sins through his blood (1 John 1:7), then we have no sin left in our account.
3. Baptism
  1. Baptism is related to circumcision (Col. 2:11-12). Circumcision was a covenant sign (Gen. 17:10), which was a seal of the righteousness that Abraham already had (Rom. 4:11). So, it is possible that baptism relates similarly to a seal of the righteousness already had by the person. Furthermore, baptism is an identification with someone, just as the Israelites were baptized into Moses (1 Cor. 10:1-2).
    1. Col. 2:11–12, “and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.”
    2. 1 Cor. 10:1–2, “For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
1. We are here, identified, as being buried. The only place that can be used to support complete immersion as the mode of baptism, where one is immersed “buried” in water, and then raised.
2. Our future hope of resurrection is guaranteed, not by baptism, but by our being one with Christ and dying with Him on the cross. In His death, we died to sin, and it no longer has power over us (v. 14).
3. Our baptism is a public and covenantal sign of our identification with Christ in his death and resurrection. His death was in the atoning sacrifice to cleanse of sin. Therefore, our baptism is a sign and a seal of Christ’s work and our declaration of identification with that work.
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
1. Since Jesus died and rose, and since we are united with Him, then we are united in the likeness of His resurrection.
2. Notice the tone of certainty, not the mere possibility.
3. United
  1. United with the likeness that was represented in baptism (vv. 3-4)
  2. Just as people were united into the likeness of being baptized into Moses in 1 Cor. 10:2
4. Likeness
  1. ὁμοίωμα homoíōma “Likeness, shape, similitude, resemblance. It is important to realize that the resemblance signified by homoíōma in no way implies that one of the objects in question has been derived from the other. In the same way two men may resemble one another even though they are in no way related to one another. This word is so important to the proper understanding of the incarnation of Christ that it is necessary to consider the context of the more important passages where it occurs.” (Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament. Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000.)
  2. The word likeness, ὁμοίωμα homoíōma, occurs 6 times in the New Testament:
    1. Rom. 1:23, “…exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man.”
    2. Rom. 5:14, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam.”
    3. Rom. 6:5, “…united with Him in the likeness of His death…”
    4. Rom. 8:3, “For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.”
    5. Phil. 2:7, “but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”
    6. Rev. 9:7, “The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.”
  3. It is not the likeness of baptism (vv. 3-4) that makes us united to Christ. That uniting is by faith. But baptism is a likeness, a symbol, a type of death and resurrection.
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.
1. Our old self was crucified with Him
  1. Federal Headship explains how we were crucified with Jesus.
  2. Jesus represented us, the elect, on the cross.
2. In order that our body of sin might be done away with
  1. This is one of the purposes of our old self being crucified with Christ, that sin might be done away with.
  2. Col. 2:11–12, “and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
  3. Rom. 8:4, “so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
3. No longer be slaves to sin.
  1. A slave is someone who must do his master’s bidding. When we were unbelievers, we were slaves to sin, not righteousness (Paul expands on this later).
for he who has died is freed from sin.
1. If we have died with Christ (v. 8), then we are freed from sin. The principle of death means the Law has no jurisdiction over us.
  1. Yet, those who died under the Law (unbelievers), will be judged by the Law because they did not die to the Law. They died under the Law.
2. “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law” (1 Cor. 15:56).
3. The power of death rests in the Law of God. Since we have died with Christ, we are no longer under the power of the Law and, therefore, no longer under the power of death.
4. The death spoken of is not the cessation of mortal life but the person’s separation from God eternally. That is what true death really is!
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
1. If we have died with Christ
  1. Died with Christ is Federal Headship – which the previous verses have covered extensively.
  2. Paul continues with the logic that if we have died with Him, we’ll also live with him.
2. Notice he doesn’t say that we will be raised with Him, for that is already done.
3. We shall also live with Him.
  1. This speaks of the future resurrection – of which Christ is the firstfruits.
    1. 1 Cor. 15:23, “But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.”
    2. Rom. 8:29–30, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
1. Jesus, when He became sin via imputation (2 Cor. 5:21), was subject to death. Yet it was not a death due to His own sin (may it never be!). Rather, it was due to the sin of others imposed upon Him in crucifixion.
  1. 2 Cor. 5:21, ” He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
  2. 1 Peter 2:24, ” and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
2. But since He died and was raised, death no longer has power over Him.
For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
1. He died to sin once for all
  1. He died to take away sin.
  2. Heb. 7:27, “who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
  3. Heb. 9:28, “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
2. The life that He lives, He lives to God.
  1. Jesus will forever as a resurrected and glorified man before God the Father.
  2. This is an unbreakable and eternal relationship in which our redemption and eternal dwelling with God are guaranteed.
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
1. Here we have the beginning of a series of instructions given to us by Paul, one is what to do, and the others are what not to do. These come out of what we believe, of how we are to consider things to be.
  1. Consider yourselves to be dead to sin (v. 11)
  2. Do not let sin reign in your mortal body (v. 12)
  3. Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness (v. 13)
2. Consider
  1. λογίζομαι logízomai, from which we get ‘logic’ It has a large semantic domain including to reason, to propose, to regard, to count as, to reckon, to put it into your mind and occupy yourself with it, to contemplate something.
    1. Rom. 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
    2. 1 Cor. 4:1, “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
    3. Heb. 11:19, “He [Abraham] considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.”
  2. Mind
    1. We behave based on what we believe. Therefore…
      1. Matt. 22:37, “And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “
      2. Rom. 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
      3. 2 Cor. 5:17, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,
1. Paul does not ask nor suggest that we resist sin. He commands. “Do not let,” is in the imperative.
2. He is not saying we will never sin. After all, sin is what we struggle with (Rom. 7:15-25). But, it is not supposed to reign over us.
3. He realizes that we are sinners saved by grace. The issue is Lordship. Are you a servant of sin or of Jesus? Is Christ the Lord of your life?
  1. Matthew 10:38, “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”
  2. Luke 9:23, “And He was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.’”
and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
1. Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin
  1. ‘Do not go on presenting’ is a present, active, imperative in Greek which means Paul is giving a command to be carried out in the continuous present.
  2. Do not continue or abide in sinful practices. To practice sin is to be the slave of sin.
    1. John 8:34, “Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.’“
    2. “commits sin” is a present participle in Greek, meaning it is a continuing action.
  3. We have an active role in our sanctification. We can make decisions about our actions and our thoughts. We make choices to follow Christ or our own desires. This is where some of our greatest battles occur.
  4. Sanctification means to be set apart. It is our outward walk aimed at holiness. Though we still fall into sin, we recognize our failures, repent, ask forgiveness, and continue on the road to sanctification.
2. Present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead
  1. The word “present” is aorist, active, imperative in the Greek which describes an action of the past that provides the condition of the command to do in the present.
  2. So, as you have presented yourself to God, so continue to do that now.
3. Your members
  1. The members mean mental as well as physical qualities of our being.

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under Law but under grace.

The believer is not under the covenant of works [obeying law to be right with God] but of the covenant of grace and is presently in a state of reconciliation with God.


SOME DIVISIONS UNDER THE COVENANT OF GRACE
	ADAMIC	NOAHIC	ABRAHAMIC	SINAITIC	DAVIDIC	NEW
PARTIES INVOLVED	God and Adam; therefore, all Mankind	God and Noah (his descendants and all living creatures)	God and Abraham (his descendants)	God and the Israelites at Mt. Sinai	God and David	God and the Elect
THE PROMISE	Eternal Life based on keeping God’s word.	To not destroy the world again with a flood (Gen. 9:8-18)	Land and descendants to Abraham (Gen. 15:8-18; 17:1-14)	Continued Fellowship with God (Exodus 34:27-28; 19:5; 24:4-8)	His descendants would have an everlasting kingdom Psalm 89:3)	Law is written on their hearts. We will be God’s people. (Jer. 31:31-33)
THE CONDITION	Perfect Obedience	No Condition	Circumcision	Perfect Obedience	No Condition	Faith in Jesus
SIGN AND SEAL	The Tree	A Rainbow	Circumcision	A sacrifice and a sprinkling of blood (Exodus 24:4-8)	None because it was to be fulfilled in Jesus’ sacrifice.	The Blood of Christ (Baptism and the Lord’s Supper)
MEDIATOR	No Mediator				The Messiah	Jesus Christ

The power of sin is the Law because the Law, being the Word of God, commands that those who sin will die (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23). Sin, then, works within us to bring about death. But, we are dead to the guilt of sin.
But, since we are not “under the Law” or obligated to keep the Law as a means of our justification, the Law, then, does not have power over us in that it cannot bring about eternal death.
There are two types of death: 1) physical death, Gen. 2:17, and 2) eternal separation from God, Isaiah 59:2. The second is under consideration here. Physical death will come to us, but spiritual death cannot. When Jesus died on the cross, and we with Him, we passed out of the domain of the Law into the domain of grace, free from the obligations of the Law in reference to justification.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law but under grace? May it never be!
1. Our freedom from the obligation to follow the Law does not give us license to commit sin. We do not use the grace of God to commit that which He saved us from.
  1. 1 Thess. 4:7, “For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.”
Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
1. You might ask here, “Is Paul saying that works will result in righteousness?” Not at all. Sin and obedience are both personified.
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed,
1. In the ancient culture of Israel masters and slaves were a common occurrence. A slave was obligated to carry out the will of his master. Paul is carrying the comparison to its logical conclusion. If you are the slave of sin, the result is death. If you are the slave of obedience, then the result is righteousness.
2. But, it is not our obedience that causes righteousness. Our obedience is bound to our regeneration. Paul is speaking to the Romans and is emphasizing the need to do good, even though we are not obligated to keep the Law.
3. This obedience is not merely ceremonial. It devotional, from the heart. It is not the hand that sins, but the heart that moves the hand to disobedience that is the abode of sin. Christian obedience is obedience from the heart.
and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
1. Again the passive action. We have been freed from sin.
2. Now our Lord is Jesus, and we serve Him.
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
1. Speaking in human terms
  1. Paul spoke similarly in Rom. 3:5, “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.)”
  2. Paul uses the ideas of slave and master and relates them to the past and present conditions of the hearer. You were slaves to sin, but not anymore. As you were obedient to sin before, be obedient to righteousness now.
2. because of the weakness of your flesh
  1. Paul accommodates the listeners due to their lack of maturity in spiritual matters. He’s speaking in terms they can understand.
3. Slaves – info
  1. Slaves did the will of their masters (Matt. 8:9; 13:28; Luke 7:8).
  2. Slaves were not greater than their masters (John 13:16)
  3. Slaves had monetary accounts (Matt. 18:23)
  4. Slaves received the produce of their masters (Matt. 21:34)
  5. Slaves could be in charge of whole households (Mark 13:34)
  6. Slaves worked in fields (Luke 17:7)
  7. Slaves could do business (Luke 19:12-27)
  8. Slaves guarded doors (John 18:17)
  9. The High Priest had a slave (Mark 14:47; Luke 22:50; John 18:10)
  10. The Centurion had a slave (Luke 7:2)
4. Sanctification
  1. To sanctify means to set apart, usually for a special religious purpose, before God. A synonym is ‘consecrate.’
  2. In the New Testament, the word ‘sanctification’ is ἁγιασμός hagiasmós. It occurs ten times. Regarding the arrangement of the NT books, its first occurrence is here. The ten locations are Rom. 6:19, 22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3, 4, 7; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 2:15; Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:2.
  3. In the Old Testament, the word ‘sanctify’ is קָדַשׁ qadash. It occurs 171 times. The firstborn of the Israelites were sanctified, Ex. 13:2. Objects were sanctified by anointing, Ex. 40:9–11. The tabernacle was sanctified by God’s presence, Ex. 29:43; 40:34, 35.
  4. You are sanctified. You are set apart for holy use. You are anointed (1 John 2:17)
    1. 1 John 2:20, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.”
    2. 1 John 2:27, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
1. Paul is not saying that those who were slaves to sin were actually free. Freedom to the unbeliever is to sinful choices.
2. As a result, those who are not followers of Christ don’t feel the weight of obligation to serve God and display righteousness.
3. They were free from the knowledge and obligation of righteousness and yielded no obedience to it.
Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
1. Have you ever looked back on your life before you met Christ and examined your behavior? Are there things you are ashamed of?
2. When we become regenerated, God opens our eyes and hearts to the truth of His holiness, which exposes the sins of our previous lives – the previous unregenerate life.
3. We recognize the evil that we did and the life of sin in which we dwelt.
4. But, we judge what we were as evil and dismiss our past lives as having no benefit.
5. Of course, we learn from our past. But Paul wants us to look back on our old selves and leave it behind.
But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.
1. Because of the blood of Christ that washes away our sins (1 John 1:7) and enables us to be saved (Mark 14:24), we are now free to obey righteousness rather than sin.
2. The result of this obedience is sanctification – a better walk with God with respect to His moral purity.
3. The outcome is eternal life. It is the outcome of God’s work in us.
4. But, our sanctification is not the cause or contributing factor to our salvation. But, it is a necessary aspect of our regeneration. After all, God works in us to do good works.
  1. Phil. 1:6, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
  2. Phil. 2:13, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1. Free gift
  1. “Free gift” is actually one word in Greek: χάρισμα. The word occurs 17 times in the NT. It is only used in reference to gifts given from God.
    1. Spiritual gift (Rom. 1:11)
    2. Salvation (Rom. 5:15, 16; 6:23)
    3. Gifts of God’s election, justification, salvation, etc., (Rom. 11:29)
    4. Charismatic gifts (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 12:4, 9, 30, 31; 1 Pet. 4:10)
    5. Favor from God (2 Cor. 1:11)
  2. The wages of sin is death. We can earn death, but not life. That is why salvation is a free gift. It is based on God’s work, not man’s.
  3. This is the difference between Christianity and humanistic religious systems: Islam, Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc
    1. Islam, the Quran. Surah 23:102-103, “those whose balance (of good deeds) is heavy—they will attain salvation. 103 But those whose balance is light, will be those who have lost their souls, in Hell will they abide
    2. Catholicism CCC 2068, “…so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the Commandments.”
    3. Mormonism 2 Nephi 25:23, “For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.”
    4. JWs, Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1983, p. 12, “Many have found the second requirement more difficult. It is to obey God’s laws, yes, to conform one’s life to the moral requirements set out in the Bible. This includes refraining from a debauched, immoral way of life. 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10; 1 Peter 4:3, 4.”